Original Title: The more open the country is, the more it will drive us to make greater progress
- Interview with Ren Zhengfei
Recently, at the Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, a reporter from the People's Daily and his team had a face-to-face conversation with Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei on some of the hot topics that concern the public.
From this dialogue, we truly felt the confidence of an entrepreneur who is "firmly determined to run their own affairs well."
"Don't think about difficulties, just do it, take one step at a time"
Question: Facing external blockades and suppression, encountering many difficulties, how do you feel?
Answer: I have never thought about it, thinking about it won't help. Don't dwell on the difficulties, just get things done, move forward step by step.
Question: The Ascend chip has been "warned" about usage risks, what impact does this have on Huawei?
Answer: There are many companies in China making chips, and many are doing quite well; Huawei is one of them. America has exaggerated Huawei's achievements; we are not as advanced as they claim. We need to work hard to reach their level of evaluation. Our single-chip technology is still behind by one generation compared to the U.S. We use mathematics to compensate for physics, non-Moore's Law to complement Moore's Law, and cluster computing to compensate for single-chip limitations, achieving practical results.
Question: If there are difficulties, what are the main ones?
Answer: Difficulties are difficult, when have times not been difficult? Was it not difficult during slash-and-burn farming? Was it not difficult during the Stone Age? When humans were using stone tools, could they have imagined high-speed trains? China has opportunities in mid- and low-end chips; dozens or even hundreds of Chinese chip companies are working hard. Especially, the opportunity in compound semiconductors is greater. For silicon-based chips, we use mathematics to compensate for physics, non-Moore's Law to complement Moore's Law, and the principle of cluster computing can meet our current needs. Software cannot be blocked, it's made up of mathematical symbols, codes, some advanced operators, and algorithms; there are no obstructions. The difficulty lies in our education and talent development. In the future, China will have hundreds or thousands of operating systems to support industrial, agricultural, and medical advancements.
Question: Nowadays, there are many voices praising Huawei, and the recognition of Huawei is very high.
Answer: Saying good things about us puts pressure on us. A little criticism might keep us more grounded. What we produce are goods, people will naturally have criticisms when they use them, which is normal. We allow criticism. As long as it's truthful, even if it's criticism, we support it. Neither praise nor criticism should matter; what matters is whether we can do our job well. If we do our job well, there won't be any problems.
Question: From your attitude towards difficulties and criticism, we can sense a strong inner strength in you, not caring whether it's praise or criticism, but steadfastly focusing on your own affairs. This is probably one of the reasons why Huawei has reached today's position.
Answer: There are too many people saying good things about us. More people should try to understand theoretical researchers; their work is often misunderstood by the general public. It may take decades or even centuries before their contributions become visible. Unjustly blaming them is not beneficial for the country's long-term development. We should understand and support those engaged in theoretical work. We should appreciate their silent dedication; it is our nation's hope. We shouldn't favor one over another; theoretical researchers are the future hope of the country.
"Theoretical scientists are lonely, we need strategic patience and understanding them"
Question: How do you view basic theoretical research?
Answer: When our country gains certain economic strength, we should attach importance to theoretical research, especially basic theoretical research. Basic research takes more than five to ten years, generally 10, 20 years, or even longer. Without basic research, there is no foundation. Even if everything seems prosperous, it will collapse when a storm comes. Buying foreign products is expensive because their prices include investments in basic research. Therefore, whether China does basic research or not, we have to pay; can we pay those who do basic research ourselves?
Question: People may find it hard to understand basic research, asking what its use is and what benefits it can bring.
Answer: Scientific breakthroughs are understood by few in the world, and those who don't understand should not comment. Einstein's discovery that light bends was confirmed a hundred years later. There is a fruit scientist named Luo Dengyi in Guizhou. In the 1940s, while analyzing the nutritional components of fruits and vegetables, he discovered a wild fruit called 'hawthorn' with extremely high vitamin content. At that time, China was still in the war period, with low levels of social education, and few people understood it. Later, he wrote a paper stating that hawthorn is the king of Vitamin C. After nearly a century, Guizhou turned it into a natural vitamin-rich hawthorn drink, a luxury vitamin drink priced at nearly a hundred yuan per bottle, which became popular. The hawthorn industry has become a channel for farmers to get rich and escape poverty. People only then truly recognized Luo Dengyi sitting at a broken desk during the war against Japan.
Question: Many research results seem unimportant at first but often prove to be highly useful eventually.
Answer: Theoretical scientists are lonely, we need strategic patience and understanding. Tu Youyou's work on artemisinin is the same. Also, Huang Dalian who advocated 'exploration, innovation, and patriotic dedication' is the same. The symbols, formulas, and thoughts in their minds can only be communicated with a few people in the world. We should respect theoretical scientists because we don't understand their culture, society should be tolerant, and the country should support them.
Question: The cycle of basic research is very long, but enterprises need to focus on efficiency.
Answer: We invest 180 billion yuan annually in R&D, approximately 60 billion yuan is used for basic theoretical research without performance evaluations. About 120 billion yuan is invested in product development, where investments are evaluated. Without theory, there can be no breakthroughs, and we would fall behind the U.S.
Question: This is a long-term perspective. I heard that Huawei has a 'Huang Dalian Tea House.'
Answer: Huang Dalian was a great scientist. We realized his greatness during the Gulf War. The U.S. military had a pod under its helicopter that could detect Saddam's weapons buried in the desert and accurately destroy them upon the start of the war. Only then did they realize that this pod was made by a Chinese person, a mineral exploration pod developed by Huang Dalian at a British university, which NATO used as a weapon. He resigned and returned to China to become a teacher at Jilin University. Using his own money and with the school's approval, he rented a 40-square-meter room and opened a tea house providing free coffee, promoting "one cup of coffee absorbing cosmic energy." With authorization from his family, we established a non-profit online platform named after him, allowing everyone to freely access global scientific information. At the same time, we opened channels for basic research collaboration with various universities. These are all strategic investments without performance evaluations. On the foundational theory side, we have established a mechanism internally; we don't know when results will come out, and we don't set requirements for scientists either.
"One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society."
Question: American economist Richard Wolff and other experts believe that the reason the U.S. does not have as developed a high-speed rail system as China is mainly because the U.S. follows a capitalist path, where everything must be profitable. China follows a socialist path, where the state advocates social benefits. High-speed rail, heavy rail, advanced power networks, developed highways, and concrete roads leading to rural areas, water conservancy facilities scattered everywhere, and power plants dotting the landscape... these are not profitable, but they lay the foundation for a developed society, contributing to the modernization of industry and agriculture, demonstrating the social value of state-owned enterprises. While competitive commodities are operated through market mechanisms to achieve commercial value and contribute to society through legal tax payments. What do you think about this?
Answer: Why can only socialism do things that don't make money? One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society. The establishment of China's socialist market economy system is a great initiative. From the perspective of infrastructure construction, we can only take the path of a socialist market economy; otherwise, high-speed rail, highways, dams... none of these could be built.
Question: What do you think about the future prospects of artificial intelligence?
Answer: Artificial intelligence might be the last technological revolution of human society, though there may also be nuclear fusion in energy. The development of artificial intelligence will take decades or even centuries. Don't worry, China also has many advantages.
Question: What are these advantages?
Answer: China has hundreds of millions of young people, they are the future of the nation. The General Secretary once said that the prosperity of a country or a nation always depends on cultural prosperity. The key to artificial intelligence lies in having sufficient electricity and a developed information network. Developing artificial intelligence requires reliable power supply; China's power generation and grid transmission are excellent, and our communication network is the most advanced in the world. The ideal of east-west computing is possible to achieve.
Question: Other advantages?
Answer: The chip issue doesn't need to be overly worried about; using methods like superposition and clustering, the computational results can be comparable to the most advanced levels. In terms of software, in the future, thousands of open-source software will meet the needs of the entire society.
Question: What do you think about China's future?
Answer: Richard Friedman left our company and bought a second-class train ticket himself to experience China. Later, he wrote an article titled "I Saw the Future, and It's Not in America."
Question: We've read this article. He believes: "The reason why China's manufacturing is so powerful today is not only due to its high quality, which enables cheaper production, but also because it can produce things faster, better, and smarter, and is increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into its products."
Answer: Fundamentally speaking, the algorithm is not in the hands of IT personnel but in the hands of power experts, infrastructure experts, coal experts, pharmaceutical experts, and various industry experts. Practically speaking, the application of artificial intelligence in China's manufacturing is progressing rapidly, and many Chinese models will emerge.
Question: What kind of support does the private sector need from the state for its development?
Answer: Legalization and marketization, government administrative actions based on laws and regulations. Enterprises mainly focus on value creation, technological breakthroughs, abiding by laws, and paying taxes according to law. This harmonious development model will allow economic vitality to gradually emerge.
Question: How do you see openness and development?
Answer: The more open the country becomes, the more it will drive us to make greater progress. Under the leadership of the Party, the administration is unified, orders are smooth, and forming a unified large market is possible. We will definitely break through all blockades and achieve great rejuvenation.
(Source: People's Daily)
Original Article: [link](https://www.toutiao.com/article/7514091478520431167/)
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