With the sale of smartphones declining, Huawei is reportedly turning to technology for pig farmers as it struggles with strict sanctions on its devices. The telecom company was stopped from accessing critical parts after the Trump administration labeled it a threat to U.S. national security. Trump had said that Huawei can and does share consumer data with the Chinese government, an allegation the company has once again denied.
Now, as Huawei struggles to sell smartphones, it is looking for other sources of revenue for its technology, reports the BBC.
And pig farming is not the only thing. Along with Artificial Intelligence (AI) for pig farmers, Huawei is also working with the coal mining industry, according to reports.
As a result of being blacklisted by the US, Huawei has been limited to making 4G models as the US government is not allowed to import parts for 5G models. Huawei’s smartphone sales have fallen 42% in the last quarter of 2020 as it handled a limited supply of microchips thanks to the sanctions. The company has been locked out of 5G development in a group of countries, including the UK due to security concerns.
Reports say Huawei could reduce smartphone manufacturing by nearly 60% this year, but this has not been confirmed.
Also read: Huawei to cut smartphone production by more than half this year
“The issue here is not as if there were any problems with our quality or experiences on Huawei’s products. It’s not a fair pitch for Huawei as Huawei is caught between the geopolitical tensions,” one said. company talks with the BBC.
For now, it seems that Huawei is looking for other sources of revenue such as moving into cloud computing services, wearables and luxury vehicles including luxury car and also some more businesses. traditional as pig farming.
China is the world’s largest pig farming industry and is home to half of the world’s live pig population. Tech is being used to modernize pig farms with AI being used to detect diseases and to detect pigs. Face recognition is also used to identify individual animals and there is other technology for weight, exercise and diet monitoring.
But Huawri is not going to be the only tech company to do this, other Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and JD.com are already working with pig farmers in China.
“Pig farming is another example of how we are trying to reinvent some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) technologies to create more value for the industries in the 5G era,” said a Huawei spokesman to the BBC.
Also read: Huawei CEO confirms it will not sell the smartphone business, recommends iPhone 12
Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei announced earlier this month that the company was launching a mining innovation laboratory in Shanxi Province in northern China.
Zhengfei said he wanted to develop technology for coal mines that will lead to “fewer workers, more safety, and higher efficiency” and enable coal miners to “wear suits and ties” at work.
Zhengfei also said the company was expanding into consumer products such as televisions, computers and tablets.
“We can survive even without relying on phone sales,” Zhengfei said, adding that it is highly unlikely that the U.S. will remove Huawei from the blacklist.