Huawei

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Longgang, Shenzhen, founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, a veteran engineer in the People's Liberation Army. Starting with a registered capital of just 21,000 yuan, the company began as a reseller of private branch exchange (PBX) telephone switches before moving into research and manufacturing of its own telecommunications equipment. Over the following decades it grew into the world's largest producer of telecom infrastructure, supplying network equipment and 5G technology to carriers in more than 170 countries, and became one of the largest smartphone manufacturers on the planet. Huawei's consumer electronics business began with feature phones in the mid-2000s and expanded into smartphones with the Ascend line, which was later rebranded into the flagship P series. The partnership with Leica, launched with the P9 in 2016, put Huawei's camera technology in the global spotlight, and successive P10, P20, P30 and P40 models became best-sellers known for computational photography, periscope zoom and high-refresh-rate OLED displays. The Mate series, positioned as a premium business flagship, has included the Mate 10, Mate 20, Mate 30 and Mate 40, with special Porsche Design editions aimed at the luxury market. The company designs its own silicon, most notably the Kirin system-on-chip family, and develops the HarmonyOS operating system, which it began rolling out on smartphones in 2021 after US sanctions restricted its access to Google Mobile Services and advanced semiconductors. Despite these constraints, Huawei has continued to ship devices, including the Mate 50, Mate 60 and Pura (formerly P) series, running HarmonyOS and the in-house Kirin processors. Beyond phones, Huawei produces tablets, laptops, smartwatches, earbuds, smart TVs and home appliances, and it has entered the electric vehicle space with its Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance. The company employs roughly 200,000 people worldwide and remains one of China's most valuable private enterprises.