Huawei has reportedly taken to pig farming in an effort to recoup significant financial losses sustained last year. According to the tech company, it suffered a number of crippling setbacks which came as a result of sanctions placed upon it by some major counties. Huawei reports a staggering 42% deficit in its smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2020.
The scrutiny placed upon the tech company by the US government and its former president is arguably the chief setback. According to former President Donald Trump, Huawei had the capacity to divulge critical personal information of its customers with the Chinese government. A number of countries echoed Trump’s sentiment as it was then a matter of national security. Consequently, Huawei has been locked out of the development of 5G restricting them to making 4G models.
Despite refuting the claims of potential foul play and challenging the defaming allegations, the restrictions remain and so does consumer scepticism. Now Huawei has had to explore other avenues to preserve relevance in a competitive global market. One such avenue is offering AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology to pig farmers.
This AI has the ability to detect diseases in pigs, monitor their weight and track their exercise. It even comes with a facial recognition feature that helps farmers reliably tract the identity of each pig and administer care accordingly.
A Huawei spokesman delivered an address on the company’s direction in which he said
“The pig farming is yet another example of how we try to revitalise some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communications Technology) technologies to create more value for the industries in the 5G era”.
China has the world’s largest pig farming industry and is home to half of the world’s live hogs. By this fact alone, it makes economic sense to offer services in the industry. With the rate at which technology is advancing, the need for 5G will increase by compulsory so there is a strong possibility the company will be able to operate at full capacity in the future.