Chinese tech giant Huawei is turning to technology for pig farmers as it struggles with tough sanctions on its smartphones. Huawei, as we know, isn't doing so well with smartphone sales outside China after the Trump administration labelled it a threat to U.S. national security and blocked it from accessing key components.
Huawei has seen a steady decline in smartphone sales since the U.S. placed a ban that prevents it from using Google services on its phone, and as well tech made from U.S. tech companies. However, it didn't just end there.
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The Trump administration later blocked Huawei from accessing U.S. made tech from non-U.S. tech companies, further crippling the Chinese tech firm. So far, it looks like 2021 is going to be one of the worst years for Huawei in smartphone sales.
According to Nikkei Asia (via Androidauthority), Huawei has informed suppliers that it plans to order enough components for 70 to 80 million smartphones this year. That's a drop of over 60% compared to the 189 million phones the company shipped in 2020.
Some suppliers even expect Huawei to drop a bit further and order enough components for 50 million handsets.
In response to struggling smartphone sales, Huawei is looking at other sources of revenue for its technology. Right now, Huawei is moving into cloud computing services, smart vehicles, wearables, and even has plans for a smart car in the future.
Also, the Chinese firm has its eyes on Pig farming and working with the coal mining industry.
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China has the world's largest pig farming industry and is home to half the pigs in the world. And technology is helping to modernise pig farms with artificial intelligence (AI) being introduced to detect diseases and track pigs.
Facial recognition technology helps identify individual pigs, while other tech monitors their weight, diet, and exercise.
"The pig farming is yet another example of how we try to revitalise some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) technologies to create more value for the industries in the 5G era," a Huawei spokesperson said.
Other Chinese tech giants, including JD.com and Alibaba, are already working with pig farmers in China to bring new technologies.
Sometime early this February, Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhenfei announced a mining innovation lab in northern China's Shanxi province.
Yje purpose of the lab is to develop technology for coal mines that will lead to "fewer worked, greater safety, and higher efficiency" that will enable coal miners to "wear suits and ties" at work.
"We can still survive even without relying on phone sales," Mr Ren said, adding that it will be very unlikely for the U.S. to remove Huawei from the blacklist that has been halting its business growth.
The Huawei founder also said the company will be expanding into consumer products such as TVs, computers, and tablets.