In response to U.S. sanctions that have disrupted its supply chain, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei is planning a significant organizational overhaul at the company, Bloomberg News reported Aug. 12.
Ren said a reorganization must happen within three to five years so that Huawei can continue to compete, even as U.S. sanctions threaten Huawei's access to American technology, including chipset components from Qualcomm Inc. and Google LLC's software, according to an internal memo seen by the news outlet. The memo warned that redundant or unnecessary operations will be eliminated, though it reportedly did not identify specific groups.
The news follows President Donald Trump's Aug. 9 announcement that the U.S. will not do business with Huawei until a new trade deal is struck with China. Huawei has long been under scrutiny in the U.S., where officials have suggested the company's ties to China's government could pose a national security threat for other countries.
Tensions between the U.S. and China led to a brief interruption in Huawei's ability to use Google's Android operating system earlier this year. Huawei recently debuted its own operating system, HarmonyOS, with a company executive saying it can "immediately" replace Android should its access to the Alphabet Inc. unit's software be disrupted again.
