Can Huawei’s Richard Yu beat Apple and Samsung to dominate the world’s smartphone market – despite the US-China trade war?
The outspoken CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group has overseen the growth of its smartphone business into a giant, and says the firm will consolidate its place among the top manufacturers in the world
Huawei Consumer Group’s Richard Yu Chengdong is known for being outspoken and his off-the-cuff comments, even earning the nickname of “Big Mouth Yu” from Chinese netizens.
It’s no surprise, given that the 50-year-old CEO of the telecommunication giant’s consumer business group needed to be confident and vocal to have turned the fortunes of the company around in the manner he has.
For starters, Yu was chiefly responsible for helping his company make inroads into Europe.
Back in 2004, Yu helped Huawei land a deal with Dutch telecommunications provider Telfort by devising a cost effective 3G network solution. Service provision was being held back by the high price of real estate for base stations.
By working closely with his team for a week, Yu came up with a base station that could be deployed in two parts. This meant that it needed very little space to install and was cheap to run.
That ingenuity translated to a 10-year, €230 million (HK$1.98 billion) contract with Telfort. The following year, Huawei secured contracts with British telecommunications conglomerates BT Group and Vodafone Group.
Those successes finally helped earn Yu, who joined the company in 1993, a place on Huawei’s board.
Before becoming CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, he had served as the company’s 3G product director, vice-president of the wireless technical sales department, president of the wireless network product line, president of the European area, chief strategy and marketing officer, and chairman of Huawei Device.