Huawei founder calls for shift to software to counter US sanctions Hits: 153 SHENZHEN, China--Founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Ren Zhengfei has called on the company's staff to "dare to lead the world" in software as the company seeks growth beyond the hardware operations that U.S. sanctions have crippled. The internal memo seen by Reuters is the clearest evidence yet of the company's direction as it responds to the immense pressure sanctions have placed on the handset business that was at its core. Ren said in the memo the company was focusing on software because future development in the field is fundamentally "outside of U.S. control and we will have greater independence and autonomy." As it will be hard for Huawei to produce advanced hardware in the short term, it should focus on building software ecosystems, such as its HarmonyOS operating system, its cloud AI system Mindspore, and other IT products, the note said.