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