The Huawei Life

Huawei brought us on a campus tour around their Shenzhen headquarters, and we left with a better understanding on how exactitude and aesthetics is a step up from competence.

- Liu Hongzuo

A trip to Huawei’s Shenzhen campus would be illuminating to visitors who are curious with their ways of manufacturing, R&D, and quality of life for its employees. It’s nothing like the negative portrayal of Chinese companies relentlessly shared across social media; instead, Huawei was brimming with innovation, exhibits and talented workers. More importantly, Huawei is keen to position itself as one that pursues quality and attention to detail.

In a span of 29 years, Huawei went from making phone switches, to a multinational networking and telecommunications giant with its presence felt across 170 countries. It overtook Ericsson in 2012, and is now effectively the largest telco equipment manufacturer on this planet. Singapore’s primary telco, Singtel, has its copper-based voice and data network infrastructure maintained by Sino Huawei. 29 years is an achievement, considering how Ericsson and Singtel have 140 and 137 years in the business, respectively.

It’s easy to see how the campus reflected this quick growth juxtaposed against its collectivist work culture – staff was young and vibrant, but everyone minded their own business and kept to themselves unless they were called upon to act.

From a bird’s eye view, the Huawei campus is a fast-paced estate thronging with highly-talented, multi-lingual employees. Its entirety is located in the Longgang district, a northeastern part of Shenzhen, China. The last major upgrade to its facilities , which completed just last year, brings the total land mass of the campus to 2.238 square kilometers.