Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

Under unprecedented relentless assault of the US government, Huawei has proved to the world that it will not cave in to a bully, and that the Chinese technology flag-bearer is not to be beaten by any force, even it is a superpower with piercing teeth. 

Ren Zhengfei, the 75-year-old founder of Huawei, is now gaining waves of cyberspace stardom, fans in China and across the seas for his thinking and clear vision in leading his company to explore the roadmap of the world's newest technologies, and also for his wisdom and courage to steer a global technology behemoth towards greatness, regardless of Washington's insistent hostility to gun it down. 

Seen from a host of press interviews with the world's most-known media outlets so far in 2019, Ren's amicability, intelligence and humor are on full display. But the most reminiscing clips are always his speaking an unwavering belief that his company will survive the US blacklisting and trade ban, and Huawei will prevail.

The continuous strong performance of the company from July to September this year has vindicated Ren's confidence. Huawei said Wednesday that revenue for the first three quarters grew to an impressive 24.4 percent to 611 billion yuan ($86.5 billion), faster than the 23.2 percent growth rate recorded for the first half of the year. It gained a net profit of 53.2 billion yuan  for the nine months. 

Relying on its undisputed technology prowess in 5G, Huawei has pocketed a total of 65 commercial contracts to ship its most advanced 5G telecommunication gear to the world's major telecom operators, mostly located in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, according to sources. 

Ren said that his company is now assembling 5G wireless base stations around the clock, without any components provided by US suppliers.

Huawei's formidable competitiveness lies in its across-the-board capabilities - not only in churning out the latest 5G equipment, but also in generating the world's most advanced 5G modems and chipsets, user-end smartphones, tablets, computers, wearable products and data-centers. Now, the tech giant is making decisive strides into the software sector, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) innovations. 

But the core of Huawei is its distinctive 5G technology - the eye sore of the US government which has adopted all plausible measures to destroy, and in May Washington brazenly placed the Chinese company on the so-called Entity List and outlawed US companies to supply Huawei. The most senseless move the US government has taken is that it went too far to warn its allies to shun Huawei's 5G technology. 

Everyone knows that ultrafast broadband is the indispensable infrastructure to build a country's future, just like what coal, oil and electricity meant to the industrial revolution, which the world has witnessed and enormously benefitted from. Without 5G, a country will lose to others in the current competitive time of cascading information-led revolution. 

Ren said during his latest interview with American media that he predicts the US and Australia - the two countries which publicly denounced Huawei's 5G - can hardly compete with European countries in pivotal IoT innovations in the coming years. 

Huawei's 5G assembly lines are expected to churn out up to 1.6 to 2 million 5G base stations in 2020, to meet the rising demands of its overseas clients and China's three giant telecom operators. Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, followed by Beijing and Shanghai, where massive 5G stations are being deployed, are likely to embrace the "full force" of 5G, and new innovations and business models to be borne by it. 

In addition to telecom gears, the company's shipments of smartphones have reached 185 million in the first nine months of this year, rising 26 percent year-on-year, and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is now covering 170 countries and regions, which has allured 1.07 million ecosystem developers. Lately, the company has made the decision to sell Balong 711 (4G) chipsets, a daring move to explore in the semiconductor market. 

With its peculiar ability in designing the world's strongest 4G and 5G, cloud, AI and IoT chipsets, the company will rake in more proceeds and make a big fortune if it moves to sell all of them to thousands of domestic and overseas customers, including all Chinese internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, Didi Chuxing, Meituan, Baidu, Xiaomi and Vivo. 

So, with streams of income from shipping 4G and 5G stations, smartphones, datacenters, chipsets, software solutions, and services from both home and abroad, Huawei is to weather Washington's ill-willed attack. 

All the more, the company is now nurturing strong alternative suppliers in China, in Asia and Europe to the chagrin of US suppliers, whose ire is almost certain to be shot back to Washington. 

I found two reader's comments on a European news site to be thought-provoking. One reader wrote: "It seems every week Huawei has something out leading the industry. Does it tell (us) that the US government sanction on Huawei doesn't work?"  Another comment follows: "The full weight of the US Empire can't crush a Chinese company. It's certainly funny, yet sad."

The author is an editor with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn