Recently, at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, a group of People's Daily reporters had face-to-face exchanges with Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei on some hot topics of public concern.
From this, we can truly feel the confidence of an entrepreneur to "unswervingly do his own thing".
"Don't think about difficulties, just do it, and move forward step by step"
Q: Facing external blockades and suppression, what do you think in your heart when you encounter many difficulties?
A: I haven't thought about it, and it's useless to think about it. Don't think about difficulties, just do it, and move forward step by step.
Q: The "warning" of the risks of using Shengteng chips has any impact on Huawei?
A: There are many companies in China that make chips, and many of them are doing well. Huawei is one of them. The United States has exaggerated Huawei's achievements. Huawei is not that great yet. We need to work hard to live up to their evaluation. Our single chip is still one generation behind the United States. We use mathematics to supplement physics, non-Moore to supplement Moore, and cluster computing to supplement single chips, and the results can also reach practical conditions.
Q: If there are difficulties, what are the main difficulties?
A: Difficulties are difficult. When was there no difficulty? Wasn't it difficult when we were slashing and burning? Wasn't it difficult in the Stone Age? When humans used stone tools, how could they have imagined that there would be high-speed rail. China can have opportunities in low- and medium-end chips. Dozens or hundreds of chip companies in China are working hard. In particular, compound semiconductors have greater opportunities. For silicon-based chips, we use mathematics to supplement physics, non-Moore to supplement Moore, and use the principles of cluster computing to meet our current needs. Software cannot hold us back. It is mathematical graphic symbols, codes, and some cutting-edge operators and algorithms that are built up. There is no blocking rope. The difficulty lies in our education and training, and the construction of a talent echelon. China will have hundreds or thousands of operating systems in the future to support the progress of China's industry, agriculture, and medical care.
Q: There are many voices praising Huawei now, and the recognition of Huawei is very high.
A: We are also under great pressure when people praise us. If they criticize us a little, we will be more sober. We are making products, and people will criticize us when they use them. This is normal. We allow people to criticize us. As long as they tell the truth, we support them even if they criticize us. Don't care about praise or criticism, but care about whether you can do well. If you do well, there will be no problem.
Q: From your attitude towards difficulties and criticism, I feel that you have a strong heart, that is, you don't care about praise or criticism, but are determined to do your own thing. This should be an important reason why Huawei can get to where it is today.
Answer: There are still too many people who say we are good. We should understand more about people who do theoretical research. Their works are too high to be understood by ordinary people, and it will take decades or even hundreds of years for them to see their contributions. Unwarranted accusations against them are not conducive to the long-term development of the country. We should understand and support those who do theoretical work. We should understand their minds. Their great obscurity is the hope of our country. Don't praise one and suppress another. Those who do theoretical research are the hope of the country's future.
"Theoretical scientists are lonely. We should have strategic patience and understand them"
Q: What do you think of basic theoretical research?
Answer: When China has a certain economic strength, it should attach importance to the research of theory, especially basic theory. Basic research takes more than 5-10 years, and generally takes 10, 20 years or even longer. If you don't do basic research, you will have no roots. Even if the leaves are lush and flourishing, they will fall down when the wind blows. It is very expensive to buy foreign products because the price includes their investment in basic research. Therefore, whether China conducts basic research or not, it has to pay. Can it pay its own people who conduct basic research?
Q: People may find it difficult to understand basic research for a while, and they will ask what is the use of researching this and what benefits can be produced.
A: There are few people in the world who understand scientific breakthroughs, and those who do not understand should not comment on them. Einstein discovered that light bends, which was confirmed a hundred years later. There was an agronomist in Guizhou, Luo Dengyi. In the 1940s, when he analyzed and studied the nutritional components of fruits and vegetables, he discovered a wild fruit called sea buckthorn with a high vitamin content. China was still in the Anti-Japanese War at that time, and the social education level was still very low, so few people understood it. Later, he wrote a paper saying that sea buckthorn is the king of vitamin C. After nearly a hundred years, Guizhou has made it into a natural sea buckthorn drink rich in vitamins, a luxury among vitamin drinks, which costs nearly 100 yuan a bottle and is sought after. The sea buckthorn industry has become a channel for farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich. People have truly come to know Luo Dengyi, who was sitting at a broken table during the Anti-Japanese War.
Q: Many research results seem insignificant at the moment, but they are often very useful in the end.
A: Theoretical scientists are lonely, and we must have strategic patience and understand them. Tu Youyou's work on artemisinin is the same. It is also the same with Huang Danian, who "explored innovation and served the country with sincerity". There are only a few people in the world who can communicate with the symbols, formulas, and thinking in their minds. We must respect theoretical scientists because we don't understand their culture. Society must be tolerant and the country must support them.
Q: The basic research cycle will be very long, but enterprises need to talk about efficiency.
A: We invest 180 billion yuan in research and development a year, and about 60 billion yuan is for basic theoretical research, which is not assessed. About 120 billion yuan is invested in product research and development, and the investment is subject to assessment. Without theory, there will be no breakthroughs, and we will not be able to catch up with the United States.
Q: This is a kind of long-termism. I heard that Huawei has a "Huang Danian Tea House".
A: Huang Danian is a great scientist. China discovered this man during the Gulf War. The US military had a pod under the helicopter to detect Saddam's weapons buried in the desert, and it was accurately destroyed as soon as the war started. After further searching, it was found that the pod was made by the Chinese. Huang Danian made a prospecting pod at a British university, which NATO used as a weapon. He resigned and returned to China to become a teacher at Jilin University. He used his own money to ask the school for a 40-square-meter house and opened a tea house to provide free coffee and carry out the "a cup of coffee absorbs cosmic energy" campaign. We obtained authorization from his family and used his name to create a non-profit online platform called Huang Danian Tea House, which allows everyone to access the world's scientific and technological information for free. At the same time, we open the trumpet to basic research and cooperate with major universities. These are all strategic investments and are not evaluated. As for the basic theory, we have established a mechanism internally. We don't know when it will be completed, and we don't make any requirements for scientists.
"One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society"
Q: American economist Richard Wolf and other experts believe that the reason why the United States does not have a high-speed rail system as developed as China is mainly because the United States is on the capitalist road and wants to make money in everything it does. China is on the road of socialism, and the country advocates social benefits. High-speed rail, heavy-duty railways, advanced power grids, developed highways, cement roads leading to villages, water conservancy facilities everywhere, and power plants scattered all over the place... These do not make money, but they have laid a developed social foundation and contributed to the modernization of industry and agriculture, reflecting the social value of state-owned enterprises. For competitive commodities, marketization is implemented, and market competition is used to regulate them so that they can realize their commercial value and contribute to society by paying taxes in accordance with the law. What do you think about this?
A: Why is it that only socialism does things that do not make money? One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society. The socialist market economic system that our country has developed is a great feat. From the perspective of infrastructure construction, we can only follow the path of the socialist market economy, otherwise high-speed railways, highways, dams... these things cannot be built.
Q: What do you think of the future prospects of artificial intelligence?
A: Artificial intelligence may be the last technological revolution in human society, and of course there may be nuclear fusion of energy. The development of artificial intelligence will take decades or hundreds of years. Don't worry, China also has many advantages.
Q: What do you think of these advantages?
A: China has hundreds of millions of young people, and they are the future of the country. The General Secretary has said that the prosperity of a country and a nation is always supported by the prosperity of culture. The technical key to artificial intelligence is to have sufficient electricity and a developed information network. The development of artificial intelligence requires power guarantee. China's power generation and power grid transmission are very good, and the communication network is the most developed in the world. The ideal of East-West computing is possible.
Q: What are the other advantages?
A: There is no need to worry about the chip problem. Using methods such as superposition and clustering, the calculation results are comparable to the most advanced level. In terms of software, there will be hundreds of open source software to meet the needs of the entire society in the future.
Q: What do you think of China's future?
A: Friedman left our company and bought a second-class high-speed rail ticket to experience China. Later he wrote an article "I saw the future, it's not in the United States."
Q: We have read this article. He believes that: "The reason why China's manufacturing industry is as strong as it is today is not only because of its high quality and ability to produce things cheaper, but also because it can produce things faster, better and smarter, and is increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into its products."
A: Fundamentally speaking, algorithms are not in the hands of IT people, but in the hands of power experts, infrastructure experts, coal experts, medical experts, and various industry experts... In practice, China's manufacturing industry is using artificial intelligence very quickly, and many Chinese models will be born.
Q: What kind of support does the country need for the development of private enterprises?
A: Legalization and marketization, the government administers according to laws and regulations. Enterprises mainly create value, make technological breakthroughs, abide by laws and regulations, and pay taxes according to law. This harmonious development model will allow economic vitality to radiate little by little.
Q: How do you view openness and development?
Answer: The country is becoming more and more open, and openness will drive us to make more progress. Under the leadership of the Party, the country is administratively unified, and government orders are accessible. It is possible to gradually form a unified large market, which will surely break through all blockades and achieve a great rejuvenation.
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