Huawei - The Chinese Technology Giant

 

Huawei is a multinational company that makes  telecommunications  parts for  mobile phones , network equipment  and other high-tech  devices . It is the second largest such company in the world. Huawei has its headquarters  in Shenzhen, which became China’s first special economic zone  in 1979.

The Chinese technology company, which was founded  about 20 years ago, has over 100,000 workers in all parts of the world, more than Microsoft.  Most of the company is owned by its  employees .

 

 

Huawei started out in the rural  areas in China. In those days most of the telecom contracts  went to  state-owned  Chinese or  foreign  firms. As the company grew, it  took hold of urban markets in big Chinese cities and in 1997 it  expanded  to other countries.

Today, Huawei is the second biggest manufacturer  of telecom  equipment , after Ericsson. In 2011,  annual  sales  is expected to be about $12 billion dollars and  likely to get three times as high within the next ten years.

 

 

 

Working for Huawei is something many young Chinese engineers and  IT  workers dream of. The 1.5 square km site  has modern apartments that can be rented, its own hospital, restaurants and bars where employees  can go to in their free time. For Chinese standards workers are  well-paid .

Although   Huawei has been concentrating  on making telecom parts and whole networks, the company is also looking into other industries in an  attempt  to diversify and grow. At Shenzhen  engineers  are experimenting on new forms of video conferencing, a branch  that is expanding rapidly  The Chinese hi-tech giant  is also starting to produce  cloud-based  hardware and computers that work  out of the box .

Even though Huawei is one of the world leaders in producing mobile phone parts it is also pushing into the consumer market with its own  brand  of computers, tablets and smartphones .

So far Huawei has failed  to reach  the American market because of security  reasons. The American  government  thinks it has connections  with the Chinese  military and is afraid it will spy  on the American  public .

 

 

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Words

  • although   = while
  • annual   = yearly
  • attempt   = try
  • branch   = section, part
  • brand   = a product that has the name of the company on  it
  • cloud-based   = software is not installed on your own computer but on a network computer
  • concentrate on   = focus on
  • consumer   = a person who buys something in a shop
  • contract   = deal, agreement
  • device   = small machine
  • diversify   = to produce new goods or services in order to grow
  • employee   = person who works for a firm or company
  • engineer   = someone who builds or designs machines or other things
  • equipment   = tools and machines that you need for a certain job
  • even though   = while
  • expand   = grow, spread to
  • fail   = not succeed
  • foreign   = from other countries
  • found-founded   = start
  • giant   = very big
  • government   = the people who rule a country
  • headquarters   = the main office building of a company
  • manufacture   = make, produce
  • military   = army
  • mobile phone   = cell phone, phone that you can always take with you
  • multinational   = in many countries
  • out of the box   = without installation
  • public   = people in general
  • rapidly   = fast
  • reach   = get to
  • rural   = in the countryside
  • sales   = when you sell something
  • security   = safety
  • smartphone   =  mobile phone  that works like a computer
  • special economic zone   = a region in a country that has other economic rules and laws than in the rest  of the country
  • spy   = to secretly collect information on someone without the other person knowing it
  • state-owned   = belonging to the government
  • tablet   = a PC that is smaller than a notebook
  • take hold of   = start to control
  • telecommunication   = sending and getting messages by phone, radio, television, the internet etc...
  • well-paid   = earn a lot of money