Days after the US Commerce Department signalled its intention to tighten a ban on American technology being used by Huawei, the Chinese tech giant paraded its deep entrenchment in South Africa’s economy.
The Huawei Cloud Summit at Gallagher Estate drew delegates from government, media, academia and numerous industry sectors. The message that was repeatedly driven home by both the host and its customers was that the Huawei Cloud was helping drive South Africa’s digital transformation and economic growth.
Far from being sidelined by international trade tensions, Huawei underscored its commitment to South Africa, highlighting its role in shaping the country’s digital future through partnerships, investments in local talent, and the deployment of advanced cloud and AI technologies.
Jacqueline Shi, president of Huawei Cloud global marketing and sales service, opened the summit with a compelling overview of the growth of Huawei’s local presence.
“Since establishing our first local cloud region in Johannesburg in 2019, our business in South Africa has expanded over 60 times,” she said.
This growth had been fuelled by Huawei’s collaboration with South African industries, ranging from education and government to finance and media. Today, more than 1,000 large organisation rely on its cloud services. Significantly, they were not just adopting cutting-edge technology, but using Huawei’s cloud infrastructure to transform operations, reduce costs, and improve service delivery.
“Our goal is to support South Africa’s digital transformation, not just with technology, but by building a comprehensive ecosystem that fosters innovation and sustainable growth,” said Shi.
Highlighting investment in talent development, she said Huawei had trained over 60,000 individuals in South Africa through various programmes.
“Building local capacity is essential for sustainable digital transformation. We are committed to creating opportunities for young people and equipping them with the skills they need to thrive in a digital economy.”
She said Huawei Cloud was supporting startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by giving them access to cloud resources and providing business development support. This, she argued, would create an environment where innovation could thrive, helping to drive South Africa’s economic growth from the grassroots level.
Huawei’s deep roots in South Africa were reinforced by government officials in attendance. Nonkqubela Thathakahle Jordan-Dyani, director-general of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, credited Huawei’s partnership with the government as “instrumental in helping us build the digital infrastructure needed to improve service delivery in critical sectors like healthcare and education”.
She stressed the importance of cloud technology in fostering inclusive growth and creating jobs, a priority for the South African government: “Digital transformation is about more than just technology—it’s about reducing barriers to economic participation and ensuring that all citizens have access to the opportunities the digital economy offers.”
The timing of the event was coincidental – a week after the U.S. Commerce Department was reported to be probing chip manufacturer TSMC to determine if it had manufactured smartphone or AI chips for Huawei. However, the message of the summit was unambiguous: Huawei was targeting global markets not only with technology, but also experience and expertise. In particular, it demonstrated the practical impact of its cloud and AI solutions across South African industries.
One of the most prominent examples came from Transnet, arguably South Africa’s largest logistics company.
According to Pandelani Munyai, Transnet chief information officer, Huawei Cloud had been crucial in the company’s efforts to digitalise its port operations.
“We’re using AI-driven solutions to manage complex logistics systems more efficiently, reducing delays and improving productivity,” he said.
This hands-on application of cloud technology reinforced the message that the cloud and AI solutions were not theoretical, but actively transforming industries on the ground.
Said Shi: “AI is not just the future—it’s the present.”
In an exclusive interview with Business Times on the sidelines of the Summit, Shi struck a pragmatic note: “To be honest, Huawei Cloud is still a small business within Huawei. We’ve been growing rapidly, but we still need to gain more market share and offer more valuable solutions to our customers.”
Under her leadership, she said, Huawei Cloud had deployed a three-pronged strategy to fuel its growth:
“We consistently provide the most advanced technologies, investing heavily in R&D to ensure our innovation capabilities. Our cloud offers the most advanced new technologies, which helps our customers find better options.
“We’ve built local teams in many countries to ensure we not only provide technology but also the support businesses need to succeed. For tier-one players and new verticals, this local presence is crucial.”
“Huawei Cloud is committed to building an open ecosystem, helping countries and partners create their own local environments. We share opportunities, knowledge, and train more local talent to foster growth.”
In a market dominated by global heavyweights like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, one might assume Huawei Cloud faces an uphill battle.
Shi sees it differently. “Every cloud provider has its unique value. When we started our journey in cloud, we asked ourselves, ‘What unique value can we bring?’ Our goal was to provide an option that would help customers in their digital transformation journey, offering better solutions for cloud computing, storage, and data management.”
Rather than competing solely on market share, the emphasis was on delivering real value to customers.
“We don’t aim to be number one or two in the world. What matters is that we provide value to industries, countries, and enterprises. If more customers trust and select us because we help them achieve their digital goals step by step, that will be the best reward for our cloud business.”
Despite US-led bans on its technology and services in many countries, Huawei Cloud had a global focus, she said: “We provide a global strategy but localise it to many countries to offer the best local services. Our vision is to offer seamless business access and services globally, but tailored to each local market’s needs.”
However, Shi has one thing in common with her Western counterparts: she is adamant that artificial intelligence will reshape the cloud industry over the next decade.
“AI will not only be an independent service on Huawei Cloud; it will be the core that reshapes everything internally. You’ll see our big data, database, and media solutions all redesigned by AI. AI will be the foundation for cloud computing’s evolution.”
* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee.