Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei says AI will enter an era of surplus compute, with focus on real‑world applications

Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei, speaking in a newly published transcript of a November meeting with ICPC programming contest winners, argued that fears of AI compute shortages are overblown and that a future era of excess computing power is “inevitable.” He said Huawei is prioritizing communications technology (wireless, optical and core networks) and near‑term 3–5 year industrial AI applications—such as unmanned mining, port automation and smarter steelmaking—rather than chasing long‑horizon AGI and ASI research, which he characterized as a greater focus of U.S. firms.