Ren Zhengfei. Photo: VCG

Founder and CEO of Huawei Ren Zhengfei said on Wednesday that its sub-brand Honor, which it recently sold is expected to resume production soon and encouraged Honor employees to surpass Huawei.

Ren made the remarks at a farewell event for Honor, according to an internal email seen by the Global Times. Amid the continuous crackdown from the US, Huawei formally announced the spinoff of its smartphone sub-brand Honor on November 17.

The buyers have formed a consortium named Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co, which was jointly founded by state-owned Shenzhen Smart City Technology Development Group and more than 30 former agents and dealers.

"After rounds of the severe crackdown by the US, we eventually learned that some US politicians want to beat Huawei to death rather than correct it," Ren said, noting that Huawei can overcome short-term difficulties but is unwilling to drag down innocent people because of the torture it is suffering.

Ren said that if Huawei didn't spin off Honor, its agents and distributors in 170 countries wouldn't survive, leading to millions of people losing their jobs, while Honor's parts suppliers would be greatly overstocked as their sales dropped.

Producing inexpensive products, Honor will soon resume production under the leadership of Shenzhen Zhixin New Information after resolving the problems of upstream and downstream partners, Ren said.

Meanwhile, he urged Honor to embrace globalization, including enterprises from countries and regions like the UK, the US and South Korea. "Being a tech power, the US has many excellent companies. You should be courageous to cooperate with them," he said, noting that the brand should also continue to cooperate with domestic brands and grow with them.

He compared Honor and Huawei to a couple facing a divorce, urging Honor not to feel sorry for Huawei and move on for its own future. Ren challenged Honor to "exceed Huawei and even defeat Huawei."

Established in December 2013, Honor has contributed greatly to the rise of Huawei's consumer business. In the second quarter of 2020, Huawei sold 55.8 million smartphones, of which the Honor series accounted for 26 percent, according to Canalys.