What’s new: Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has embarked on a leadership change at its terminal business group, naming Richard Yu as the division’s chairman, a position that has been vacant for years.
The appointment, which was announced in a Tuesday internal announcement seen by Caixin, marks the end of Yu’s 10-year stint as CEO of the terminal business group, which covers Huawei’s key businesses including smartphones, personal computers and intelligent driving solutions.
The reshuffle will refine Huawei’s internal governance structure and enable Yu to free up more energy to focus on developing quality products for customers, a person close to the company told Caixin.
He Gang, who is currently chief operating officer at the terminal business group, will succeed Yu as the unit’s new CEO, according to the internal announcement.
The background: In April 2022, Huawei renamed its consumer business group to the terminal business group as the Shenzhen-based tech giant sought to reap more orders from government and corporate customers while remaining committed to individual consumers.
In 2023, Huawei’s terminal business raked in 251.5 billion yuan ($34.7 billion) in revenue, up 17.3% year-on-year and becoming the second-largest revenue source after its ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure business, according to its annual report.
Yu has repeatedly said that he has devoted half of his time to the smart car business as Huawei strives to build up an ecosystem alliance that allows it to exert greater influence over marketing and development of its auto partners’ cars.
Tuesday’s announcement came just days after a fatal car crash involving a Huawei co-branded electric vehicle claimed three lives, with the family of the deceased blaming a malfunction of the autonomous emergency braking system — a technology that was highlighted by Huawei when promoting the vehicle.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com)
