Huawei restructures cloud unit to sharpen focus on AI amid tech war

Huawei Technologies has begun a major restructuring of its cloud computing unit as the Chinese tech giant sharpens its focus on artificial intelligence amid the Sino-US tech war, according to sources and Chinese media reports.

The subsidiary – responsible for AI model development, cloud services and data centre solutions – kicked off the restructuring on Friday, merging several key departments to prioritise AI-related business, according to two employees involved, who requested anonymity because the information was private.

It remains unclear how many employees will be affected by the changes as many may have the opportunity to transfer internally, one source said.

The Huawei Cloud Business Unit told Chinese media National Business Daily on Monday that the purpose of the restructuring was to “continue to create more advanced and valuable cloud services for customers through software and hardware collaboration and architectural innovation”, adding that it would invest more resources in AI and computing industries.

The changes were announced internally by Zhang Pingan, CEO of Huawei’s cloud unit. After the revamp, the cloud unit’s core operations would be streamlined into six divisions, including computing, storage, database and cybersecurity, according to a report from Chinese news portal Sina.com on Saturday.

The restructuring is part of the unit’s efforts to achieve profitability following losses last year, according to Sina.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.