The founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has predicted the next battle with the US will be over the Chinese telecom company’s push into the internet of things (IoT) and smart factories.
Huawei has been rapidly developing chips and software for companies to connect their factory floors to the internet, using sensors to automate and monitor manufacturing lines.
China’s manufacturing prowess gives Huawei a huge potential market for this technology, and a chance to set standards that are eventually adopted across the world. The Chinese government estimates that the industrial IoT sector was worth Rmb300bn ($44bn) last year and is growing at about 25 per cent each year, according to the government.