Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) stated Thursday that it is replacing its internal software management systems from U.S. vendors with its own, claiming victory over U.S. restraints threatening its future.
Huawei’s rotating Chairperson, Meng Wanzhou, daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, attended an internal ceremony in Dongguan, south China, on Thursday to celebrate the switch to its own “MetaERP” (enterprise resource planning system).
Enterprise ERP software handles accounting and supply chain procedures.”We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago,” said Huawei board member and quality, business process, and IT management department president Tao Jingwen.
“Today, we are proud to announce that we have broken through that blockade; we survived!” Huawei said 80% of their business uses Meta-ERP. Huawei has been diversifying to avoid U.S. criticism, and Tao’s statement signals a new business line.
Huawei was prohibited in May 2019 for security reasons.
After the listing and other trade sanctions, Huawei has problems procuring U.S. products. In addition, according to a source, it stopped supporting and patching popular Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) ERP software.
Tao called the cutoff a “massive crisis” for Huawei because the old system had been essential for over two decades.
“Not having access to ERP became Huawei’s ‘Dadu River’ that blocked our way forward and threatened our very existence,” Tao said, referencing the Red Army’s heroic escape during China’s civil war. According to the source, Huawei’s “meta-ERP” system uses the company’s cloud-computing infrastructure to be more efficient than typical ERP packages.
Tao described the old system as “a massive old building in disrepair,” but the new system processes 15 million accounting entries daily and is fully tested.
