Huawei Sets Its Sights on Rapidly Growing DX Market

Huawei, which has been hit hard by the U.S. ban on semiconductor equipment exports to China, made a winning move by entering the digital transformation (DX) business in the industrial field.

The Chinese IT giant held the Huawei Asia-Pacific Partner Conference 2023 in Shenzhen, China, on May 17 (local time) under the theme “Grow Together, Win Future.”

The event was attended by more than 1,200 representatives from Huawei’s Asia-Pacific partners in 10 countries including Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos. This marked the first time Huawei has held such an event for its partners in the region.

Huawei expected the global DX market to grow rapidly. “By 2026, the world will have a US$3.4 trillion global digital transformation market,” said David Wang, member of Huawei’s board of directors and chairman of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Operations Board, adding, “Huge opportunities are on the way.” Huawei is targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have difficulty achieving DXs on their own.

Since the Trump administration began imposing comprehensive U.S. sanctions on China in 2018, Huawei has been transforming itself from a hardware company that makes telecommunications equipment and smartphones to a service- and solution-oriented software company. The company plans to develop various digital solutions such as those for smart ports, smart factories, and digital payments based on the technological capabilities it has accumulated in the telecommunications equipment business. In the cloud sector, it is zeroing in on a service-centered business structure.