Chip autonomy is hindered, the theft case of departing executives has surfaced, and Huawei is facing internal and external troubles?
A chip technology theft case that shocked the industry surfaced in Shanghai. After careful investigation, the Shanghai police finally smashed a criminal gang that specialized in stealing Huawei's chip technology. The gang's "base camp" was located in a company called Zunpai Communications, and several of the company's executives and employees were arrested. This has undoubtedly added new obstacles to Huawei's chip autonomy, and internal and external troubles have followed.
As a company focusing on chip research and development, its founder Zhang Kun has worked in Huawei's HiSilicon chip department for many years and has rich experience in chip design. Just as Zunpai Communication was preparing to launch its self-developed WiFi chip products, a shocking theft case surfaced.
After an investigation by the Shanghai police, a number of executives and employees of Zunpai Communications were arrested and accused of stealing a large number of core technologies of Huawei's HiSilicon chips. According to the identification, the 40 stolen technology points are more than 90% identical to the secret points of Huawei HiSilicon's trade secrets, which can be described as a blatant theft.
This undoubtedly adds new obstacles to Huawei's chip autonomy. On the one hand, the theft of trade secrets by departing executives has exposed loopholes in Huawei's internal intellectual property protection. On the other hand, competitors have gained investment power and tried to "lift the ladder" into the chip field, creating new competitive pressure on Huawei.
What is even more alarming is that this incident has exposed the problem of Chinese enterprises' lack of ability to control demand in the market tide. The reason why Zunpai Communication took risks is likely to be because of the deviation in the prediction of the chip market demand. If companies can't grasp the pulse of the market in time, blind expansion may cause huge losses.
In addition to internal management and strategic layout issues, Huawei is also facing severe external challenges on the road to chip independence.
In recent years, the United States and other Western countries have imposed severe chip blockade policies on Huawei, aiming to curb Huawei's development in cutting-edge fields such as 5G and artificial intelligence. This has undoubtedly added many obstacles to Huawei's chip autonomy, but it has also made foreign media begin to reflect on the gains and losses of this policy.
Some foreign media believe that the implementation of the "blockade" policy on Huawei may be counterproductive, but let Huawei take the lead in chip autonomy. After being "forced to Liangshan", Huawei had to increase its independent research and development efforts to get rid of its dependence on external chip supply.
Before the sanctions, Huawei's chip autonomy capabilities had been underestimated. However, with the advent of the "HarmonyOS" operating system and a number of independent chips, Huawei has demonstrated strong independent innovation strength, which has impressed the outside world.
This incident has triggered reflection and discussion in the foreign media on the effect of the "blockade" policy. Some people believe that this "containment" policy has failed to achieve the desired goal, but has allowed Huawei to take the lead in the field of chip autonomy.
In the face of internal and external troubles, what measures does Huawei need to take? Industry insiders believe that strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights and improving the management of trade secrets are top priorities. Enterprises should also pay attention to demand prediction, improve their strategic layout capabilities, and avoid being passively beaten.
Government policy-making also needs to be carefully evaluated to avoid embarrassing situations where things backfire. Some experts have called for a fair and just international competitive environment for companies, rather than artificially setting "thresholds".