Ren Zhengfei, the founder of the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei, proposed that the company would hire more foreign talent and turn its U.S. R&D centers into “recruitment agencies.” He also stated that Huawei’s R&D centers in other countries should also step up talent recruitment.
Huawei made an announcement on September 28, 2021. It stated that Ren made the above remarks on August 12, 2021, at a Huawei meeting on how to recruit foreign talent.
At that meeting, Ren pointed out that Huawei is at a critical stage of strategic survival and development. It must be more active in acquiring the best talent in the world. In addition to recruiting the top talent in China, it must increase the recruitment of overseas Chinese students. More importantly, Huawei should step up its efforts to hire foreign talent and increase the budget for Huawei’s overseas R&D centers.
He expressed that the United States imposes restrictions on some Master’s and Ph.D. student visa applications. Chinese students returning from studying in the United States will gradually decrease in the future. Therefore, Huawei must find ways to attract talent from other countries who are studying and working in Europe and the United States.
Ren asked that Huawei’s overseas R&D centers take responsibility and carry out the mission of recruiting talent. “It is necessary to turn the North American R&D centers into talent recruitment agencies.” Ren emphasized that all overseas R&D centers must do the same in order to build a global talent network for Huawei.
Ren said, “We need to recruit some ‘high noses’ [foreigners] that know how to use ‘foreign guns and cannons.’ It may take three to five years to move gradually from the approach of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) army [against Japan in World War II] to an internationalized approach. In particular, we must attract outstanding talent from other countries who have studied or worked in the United States and Europe to work in China.”
Ren further stated that overseas R&D centers are primarily for research, not product development and that Huawei should encourage those currently engaged in product development to work in China for some time.
Ren believed that it is necessary to support some outstanding Ph.D. candidates to join Huawei in China and do post-Doctoral studies in coordination with Chinese universities.
Source: Huawei, September 28, 2021
http://xinsheng.huawei.com/cn/index.php?app=forum&mod=Detail&act=index&id=6466593