‘LIVE OR DIE MOMENT’ for Huawei, founder says as company in ‘battle mode’ against US sanctions

Huawei’s founder has outlined a “battle” plan to prepare the company for the consequences of the US trade ban, which comes into force in less than three months.

“The company is facing a live or die moment,” Ren Zhengfei, the company’s founder and former Chinese Army officer, said in a memo to his employees sent out on Tuesday.

Zhengfei stated that in order to deal with the loss of US equipment suppliers, the company will be investing more in production equipment to ensure supply continuity. He also advised his employees – nearly 190,000 people around the world – to literally arm themselves with new projects and push for innovation if they want to keep their jobs, thus being able to cut positions and rid the company of inefficient managers.

If you cannot do the job, then make way for our tank to roll; and if you want to come on the battlefield, you can tie a rope around the tank to pull it along, everyone needs this sort of determination!

Zhengfei noted that in order to maintain positions within the tech giant, employees should “either form a commando squad to explore new projects… or they can find jobs in the internal market.”

“If they fail to find a role, their salaries will be cut every three months,” he warned, urging workers to meet sales targets as well as keeping a close eye on cash flow.

“In 3-5 years’ time, Huawei will be flowing with new blood. After we survive the most critical moment in history, a new army would be born. To do what? Dominate the world,” Zhengfei said.

Washington recently gave Huawei a 90-day window to continue trading with US companies, postponing a ban on US firms selling technology or equipment to the tech giant, as well as banning US state agencies from buying products and services from Huawei. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Tuesday that Washington is set on implementing the ban in full once the 90-day period ends, dismissing talk of “mixed messages.”

“I don’t think there’s a mixed message at all. The threat of having Chinese telecoms systems inside of American networks or inside of networks around the world presents an enormous risk, a national security risk,” Pompeo said in an interview with CNBC.

Washington initially explained the blacklisting of Huawei with accusations that the Chinese company poses a threat to national security and foreign policy interests as it presumably operates under China’s communist party’s rule. Huawei has denied this allegation on a number of occasions.

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