After two decades during which Huawei counted on Oracle and its suppliers for software for daily business operations, the US-sanctioned Chinese company announced it successfully cut itself off its reliance on foreign ERP systems amid China's nationally-mobilized import substitution.
According to an official press release, Huawei held an event titled "Heroes Fight to Cross the Dadu River," which implies breaking through the US's blockade. Huawei said in the event that it had replaced the legacy ERP system with its MetaERP system, over which it has full control.
Huawei said that MetaERP, which passed the tests of monthly, quarterly, and yearly settlements, currently handles 100% of its business scenarios and 80% of its business volume. However, according to Reuters, Bloomberg, and South China Morning Post, Huawei declined to comment on whether it would open MetaERP to external customers.
The South China Morning Post reported that ERP suppliers notified Huawei that they would suspend their services days after the US added Huawei to a trade blacklist in May 2019. Hence, the company decided to develop a completely self-controlled system, and it has been the most extensive and complex transformation project that Huawei has undertaken, according to its press release.
Huawei has been vocal about its progress on indigenization. In March, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said that the R&D expenses that Huawei spent in 2022 amounted to US$23.8 billion, adding that in the past three years, Huawei has substituted over 13,000 components in its products with locally sourced alternatives and has redesigned more than 4,000 circuit boards. Besides, Huawei announced it had filed patents for EUV and EDA tools for chips at the 14nm technology node.
In China's two sessions held in March, Xi Jinping said with the all-around containment and suppression of China by Western countries, companies had to strengthen innovation and play a bigger role in reaching technological independence.
