Huawei would be fine without U.S. chips: Huawei CEO

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Huawei's CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei said on Saturday the company was fully prepared for the U.S. restriction, and that Huawei would be "fine" even if U.S. smartphone chipmaker would not sell chips to the company.

Huawei's chip arm HiSilicon said on Friday it has long been prepared for the scenario that it could be banned from purchasing U.S. chips and technology, the company had been vigorously investing in self-developed technologies, and is able to ensure a steady supply of most products to make sure Huawei will be able to continue serving its customers.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order, which will ban the Chinese telecom giant from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval.

"We have not done anything which violates the law," said Ren. "We have already been preparing for this." The tech company will continue to develop its own chips even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell chips to Huawei, Nikkei reported.

Huawei also made a statement, saying that such a move will ultimately hurt the interests of U.S. consumers.

In respond to President Trump's executive order that bars U.S. companies from using telecom equipment that may pose "unacceptable risk to the national security," the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday the U.S. ban is an abuse of national security and unilateral trade sanctions, and the country will take necessary measures to protect Chinese companies' interests.

A Huawei smartphone outlet in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. /VCG Photo

Ren also noted that Huawei's growth might slow under the U.S. restriction, but only slightly, in an interview with Japanese media Nikkei on Saturday.

Ren added that the company's annual revenue growth may undershoot 20 percent. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the tech giant by sales from 2014 to 2018 was 26 percent.

As the U.S. attempts to deter Huawei's rise, the tech giant keeps developing its cutting-edge 5G technology with 40 commercial contracts to build and operate the 5G telecommunication infrastructure globally.