The South Korean media analyzed that the remarks made by Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, during an interview yesterday are not credible because China's chip technology is not much behind that of the United States.

This largest-circulation South Korean media first emphasized and pointed out that Ren Zhengfei's statement was, "Huawei's chips are not good, a generation behind the U.S. The U.S. has exaggerated Huawei's achievements." This speech was considered to contain a lot of water.

A screenshot of a South Korean media report

Multiple South Korean media reported on the remarks made by Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei who is 81 years old, during an interview with the People's Daily on the 10th.

The focus of the South Korean media is on the current development status of China's artificial intelligence chips. This South Korean media pointed out that when asked about the company's artificial intelligence chip "Ascend," Ren Zhengfei made the aforementioned remarks.

Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei

The South Korean media commented that the above remarks differ from Ren Zhengfei's usual practice of promoting product technical strength. This time, the CEO of Huawei himself downplayed the company's technical level.

Regarding Ren Zhengfei's remarks, I found that South Korean media and industry experts basically do not believe them. In other words, they don't believe that there is a one-generation gap between Chinese and American chip technology.

Firstly, South Korea stated that Huawei's research and development capabilities are very strong. According to the statement of the CEO of Huawei, one third of Huawei's total R&D expenses are used for pure basic theoretical research. Huawei spent approximately 35 trillion Korean won on R&D last year, which is comparable to Samsung Electronics' level. It should be noted that Samsung Electronics is South Korea's largest enterprise with unrivaled strength in memory chips. If Huawei's R&D expenses can match those of Samsung Electronics, how could Huawei not develop advanced chip technology? Indeed, judging from my perspective, South Korea's per capita GDP far exceeds China's, so their prices and labor costs also exceed China's. Therefore, when converted into actual purchasing power comparison, Huawei's R&D expenses should be significantly higher than those of Samsung Electronics. High input naturally leads to high output, so it is quite natural for South Koreans to have doubts. Moreover, the South Korean media pointed out that Huawei has invested 11.5 trillion Korean won in basic theoretical research. Huawei believes that basic theoretical research usually requires 10, 20 or even more years, but without investment, it cannot take root. Clearly, Huawei has a long-term vision.

Secondly, the South Korean media commented that Ren Zhengfei's remarks were interpreted as an attempt to highlight the excessiveness of the U.S. export control on Huawei's artificial intelligence chip "Ascend" last month.

As the U.S. not only strengthens its export control over high-end artificial intelligence chips but also exports low-specification chips like Nvidia's H20 to China, Huawei has been developing its self-developed artificial intelligence chip "Ascend".

At that time, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced: "Using Huawei's Ascend chip anywhere in the world will violate U.S. export controls."

China protested at that time, calling it "unilateral hegemony".

South Korean experts said that the statement by Huawei's CEO was too modest. Saying that his own chips are worse than American ones by a generation, but in reality, in the U.S., Huawei's Ascend chip has been evaluated by the U.S. government as being comparable to Nvidia's high-performance AI chip 'H100'.

The South Korean media pointed out that Ren Zhengfei mentioned during the interview: "We are not that good yet, we still need to work hard to reach their evaluation." This is just typical Chinese modesty.

Regarding the future development of China's chip industry, the South Korean media commented that Ren Zhengfei also mentioned efforts to develop high-performance chips under the background of U.S. sanctions.

He said: "We use mathematical methods to supplement physics, and solve single-chip technology through massive computing techniques, achieving tangible results."

South Korean experts expressed that this indicates that despite numerous difficulties, Huawei and other Chinese enterprises are finding alternative solutions and making breakthroughs. For future development, the South Korean media pointed out that Ren Zhengfei also mentioned: "China has opportunities in the mid-to-low-end chip sector. Dozens, even hundreds of chip companies are working very hard."

Samsung, South Korea's largest enterprise

The South Korean media said that South Korea's semiconductor enterprises may face fierce competition from Chinese enterprises in the mid-to-low-end chip market in the future, with a gloomy prospect.

Moreover, many South Korean industry experts also believed that Ren Zhengfei's remarks cannot be taken entirely at face value.

Experts on other South Korean media also pointed out that China's AI chip technology development speed is enough to pose a threat to the U.S.

For example, Park Jae-geun, honorary professor of the Department of Convergent Electronic Engineering at Hankyong University, specifically stated: "Huawei's chip performance is indeed still inferior to U.S. chips, but considering China's technological development speed, investment, and manpower, the U.S. is already in a situation where it can feel crisis."

It seems that South Koreans are quite clear-headed. For the future development of China's chip field and the prospects of Huawei, they are actually more optimistic than Huawei's CEO Ren Zhengfei.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7514485799539294774/

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