People's Daily Dialogue with Ren Zhengfei: The more open the country is, the more it will promote our progress.

Recently, at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, a group of reporters from the People's Daily had a face-to-face exchange with Huawei's CEO Ren Zhengfei on some hot topics of public concern.

From this, we truly feel the confidence of an entrepreneur in "resolutely doing their own thing."

"Don't think about the difficulties, just do it, and move forward step by step."

Question: In the face of external blockade and suppression, encountering many difficulties, what are your thoughts?

Answer: I haven't thought about it, and thinking doesn't help. Don't think about the difficulties, just do it, and move forward step by step.

Question: What impact does the "warning" about the risks of using Ascend chips have on Huawei?

Answer: There are many companies in China that make chips, and many of them are doing well, with Huawei being one of them. The United States has exaggerated Huawei's achievements; Huawei is not that impressive yet. We need to work hard to reach their level of evaluation. Our single-chip technology is still one generation behind the U.S. We use mathematics to supplement physics, non-Moore to supplement Moore, and group computing to supplement single-chip technology, which can also achieve practical results.

Question: If there are difficulties, what are the main difficulties?

Answer: Difficulties are difficulties, when are there no difficulties? Isn't it difficult to slash and burn? Isn't the Stone Age difficult? When human beings used stone tools, how could they have imagined that there would be high-speed rail. China has opportunities in low-end chips, and dozens or hundreds of chip companies in China are working hard. Compound semiconductors, in particular, have a greater opportunity. Silicon-based chips, we use mathematics to supplement physics, non-moles to supplement moles, and use the principle of cluster computing to meet our current needs. Software can't get stuck in the neck, it's the graphic symbols and codes of mathematics, some cutting-edge operators, algorithms, and there are no blocking cables. The difficulties are in our education and training, and the construction of talent echelon. In the future, China will have hundreds or thousands of operating systems to support the progress of China's industry, agriculture, medical care, etc.

Q: There are many voices praising Huawei now, and the recognition of Huawei is very high.

A: It's good to say that we are good, and we are also under a lot of pressure. Scold us a little and we will be a little more sober. What we do is a commodity, and people will be criticized when they use it, which is normal. We allow people to scold. As long as we tell the truth, even if it is criticism, we support it. Don't care about praise or scolding, but care about whether you can do a good job. Do yourself well, and there will be no problem.

Q: From your attitude towards difficulties and criticism, I can sense that you have a strong inner self, which does not care about praise or criticism, but is determined to do your own thing well. This should be an important reason why Huawei has come this far.

Answer: There are still too many people who say that we are good, and we need to understand more people who are engaged in theoretical research, because they are high and low, and the common people do not understand them, and it takes decades or hundreds of years for them to see their contributions. Groundless accusations against them are not conducive to the country's long-term development. We need to understand and support theoretical work. We need to understand their minds, and their great obscurity is the hope of our country. Don't hold one over the other, and engage in theoretical research as the hope for the country's future.

"Theoretical scientists are lonely, we need to have strategic patience and understand them"

Q: What is your view on basic theoretical research?

Answer: When our country has a certain economic strength, we must pay attention to theoretical research, especially basic theory. Basic research does not take only 5 to 10 years; it generally requires 10, 20 years or even longer. Without basic research, there is no foundation. Even if the leaves are lush and thriving, they will fall when the wind blows. Buying foreign products is expensive because their prices include the investment they made in basic research. Therefore, whether China engages in basic research or not, it has to pay; the key is whether it can afford to pay its own researchers for basic research.

Question: For basic research, people may find it difficult to understand at first and may ask what the purpose of this research is and what benefits it can bring.

Answer: There are very few people in the world who understand scientific breakthroughs, and those who don't understand should not be evaluated. Einstein's discovery that light bends was confirmed a hundred years later. There is an agronomist in Guizhou, Luo Dengyi, in the forties of the last century, when he analyzed and studied the nutritional content of fruits and vegetables, he found a wild fruit with a high vitamin content of prickly pear. At that time, China was still in the period of the Anti-Japanese War, and the level of social education was still very low, and few people understood it. Later, he wrote a paper saying that prickly pear is the king of vitamin C. After nearly 100 years, Guizhou has made it into a naturally rich vitamin-rich prickly pear drink, a luxury in vitamin drinks, nearly 100 yuan a bottle, which is sought after, and the prickly pear industry has become a channel for farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich. Only then did people really know Luo Dengyi at a broken table during the anti-Japanese war.

Question: Many research results may seem irrelevant at the moment, but they often end up being very useful.

A: Theoretical scientists are lonely, we need to be strategically patient and understand them. Tu Youyou makes artemisinin is the same. and Huang Danian, who "explores and innovates and serves the country with sincerity", is the same. The symbols, formulas, and thinking in their minds are only a few people in the world who can communicate with them. We should respect the theoretical scientist, because we do not understand his culture, the society must be tolerant, and the state must support it.

Question: The cycle of basic research can be very long, but companies need to focus on benefits.

Answer: We invest 180 billion yuan in research and development a year, and about 60 billion yuan is for basic theoretical research, not assessment. About 120 billion yuan is invested in product research and development, and the investment is to be assessed. Without theory, there will be no breakthrough, 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 Thinking House."

Answer: Huang Danian is a great scientist, and China discovered this man during the Gulf War. The U.S. military had a pod under the helicopter to detect Saddam's weapons buried in the desert and eliminate them exactly as soon as the war began. After looking again, I learned that this pod was made by the Chinese, a prospecting pod made by Huang Danian at a British university, and NATO used it for weapons. He resigned and returned to China to become a teacher at Jilin University. With his own money, he asked the school for a 40-square-meter house, opened a tea house, and was responsible for providing free coffee and carrying out "a cup of coffee to absorb the energy of the universe". With the authorization of his family, we used his name to make a non-profit online platform of Huang Danian's Tea House, allowing everyone to access the world's scientific and technological information for free. At the same time, it is open to basic research and cooperates with major universities. These are strategic investments that are not assessed. In the area of basic theory, we have established a mechanism internally, and we don't know when it can be made, and we don't have any requirements for scientists.

"One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society"

Question: Experts like American economist Richard Wolff believe that the reason the United States does not have a high-speed rail system as developed as China's is primarily because the U.S. follows a capitalist path, where everything must be profitable. In contrast, China follows a socialist path, where the state advocates for social benefits. High-speed rail, heavy-haul railways, advanced electricity networks, developed highways, and cement roads leading to rural areas, as well as widespread water conservancy facilities and a myriad of power plants... these do not generate profit but lay the foundation for a developed society, contributing to the modernization of industry and agriculture, reflecting the social value of state-owned enterprises. On the other hand, competitive goods are market-oriented, regulated through market competition to realize commercial value, and taxes are paid according to law to contribute to society. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer: Why is it that only socialism engages in unprofitable endeavors? One of the purposes of socialism is to develop society. The socialist market economy system we are implementing in our country is a great achievement. In terms of infrastructure construction, we can only take the path of a socialist market economy; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to build high-speed rail, highways, dams, and so on.

Q: What is your perspective on the future prospects of artificial intelligence?

Answer: Artificial intelligence may be the last technological revolution of human society, although there could also be energy nuclear fusion. The development of artificial intelligence will take decades or even centuries. Don't worry, China has many advantages as well.

Q: What do you think of these advantages?

A: There are hundreds of millions of young people in China, and they are the future of the country. The general secretary said that the prosperity of a country and a nation is always supported by the prosperity of culture. The key to the technology of artificial intelligence is to have sufficient electricity and a well-developed information network. The development of artificial intelligence must have power security, China's power generation and power grid transmission are very good, the communication network is the most developed in the world, and the ideal of eastern and western computing is possible.

Q: What are the other advantages?

Answer: There is actually no need to worry about the chip issue. Using methods like stacking and clustering, the computational results are comparable to the most advanced levels. In terms of software, in the future, there will be thousands of open-source software solutions to meet the needs of society as a whole.

Q: What do you think about the future of China?

Answer: Friedman left our company, bought a second-class high-speed train ticket, and went to experience China. Later, he wrote an article titled "I Saw the Future, and It Is Not in America."

Q: We have read this article, and he believes that "the reason why Chinese manufacturing is as strong as it is today lies not only in its high quality and ability to produce things more cheaply, but also in its capability to produce things faster, better, and smarter, and it is increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into its products."

Answer: Fundamentally, the algorithms are not in the hands of IT professionals, but in the hands of experts in electricity, infrastructure, coal, medicine, and various industry specialists... From a practical perspective, the application of artificial intelligence in China's manufacturing industry is very rapid and will give rise to many Chinese models.

Question: What support do private enterprises need from the government for development?

Answer: Rule of law and marketization, with the government administering according to laws and regulations. Enterprises primarily focus on value creation, technological breakthroughs, complying with laws and regulations, and paying taxes according to the law. This harmonious development model will gradually unleash economic vitality.

Q: What is your view on openness and development?

Answer: The country is becoming more open, and this openness will drive us to progress further. Under the leadership of the Party, the country is administratively unified, policies are effectively communicated, and it is possible to gradually form a unified large market, which will surely break through all barriers and achieve great rejuvenation.