The giant Huawei-a symbol of China’s technological capacity and the target of various US protectionist measures-has been seeking to circumvent pressure from the US government and ensure the resilience of its operations in Latin America. The region represents a small slice of its global revenue, but it is one of the consumer poles where its business grows in proportional terms.
Huawei’s president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Daniel Zhu, said the multinational is more concerned with the quality of its services and customer satisfaction, not the latest measures from the United States. Donald Trump’s government has just confirmed the rise of rates for imports of products from China, Mexico and Canada.
“I’m not interested in Donald Trump, the American attitude and what they are trying to do … There are not many things that can scare us,” said Zhu. “If my client’s return is good, if my product or service are well received, then I am confident,” he added, remembering that the company has been operating for 28 years in the region.
The Huawei executive participated on Tuesday, 4, a news conference due to Mobile World Congress (MWC), telecommunications fair that takes place annually in Barcelona, with operators, suppliers and governments around the world.
At the time, Zhu mentioned that US tariff announcement is very recent so that he could have a more accurate assessment of potential business impact. “We really didn’t start considering anything about the consequences for the tariff issue. Maybe this is something in our agenda. ”
For years, Huawei has been banned from the US market on the grounds that the company would pose a risk to national security. Blocking is a symbol of commercial and political disputes between the governments of China and the United States. Some Americans allies followed the same direction, such as Canada, which also blocked Huawei business in the country.
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When he folded the bet on protectionism early in his new term, Trump fired the warning that any harder measures could splash about Chinese companies, specifically. At the moment, the picture is uncertain. “We cannot predict what will happen. It makes no sense for me to draw any conclusions before, ”said the representative of Huawei.
Billion
In the Chinese giant, the order is to move on in its growth strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, where it has offices in 28 countries. Revenue in the region grew by 11% from 2022 to 2023, to about $ 5 billion, according to data from the last balance. The amount is 5% of total revenue. China alone accounts for 76% of the cake, which totaled $ 99 billion.
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In Brazil, the multinational has two mobile and fixed internet equipment factories in Jundiaí (SP) and Manaus, respectively. The company is already a supplier of antennas, fiber optics and 4G and 5G stations for operators. At the moment, he works for the future arrival of 5.5g. Teles Tim, Vivo and Claro are customers and have already announced tests with the new technology, but with no date for commercial launch. Another large market is broadband providers.
Huawei also intends to become popular among the general public, with launches aimed at the end consumer, from headphones, digital clocks to cell phones. “In Brazil, Colombia and Mexico return to the device market last year. You will start seeing our launch events again, ”said Zhu, projecting advances this year.
The big challenge for Huawei is to set up a position in the cell phones, given the barrier imposed by the United States. Still in the first Trump administration, US companies were prohibited from doing business with Huawei. In practice, the Chinese was unable to use Android IOS operating systems on their cell phones, being forced to develop their own system. The problem, however, is the lack of dear Western public applications – such as WhatsApp and Instagram – on Chinese phones.
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Therefore, the multinational is looking for alternatives that can stimulate demand, as an incentive to developers to create other applications that can become a hit of the public. “In the future, Huawei smartphones will be running outside China, based on our own operating system. Now, for the global market, including Brazil, the focus is to warm our ecosystems, ”said Zhu.
*The journalist traveled to Barcelona at the invitation of Huawei
