Raja Ampat, West Papua - Chinese technology giant Huawei has been doing business in Indonesia for more than 21 years and is now making a contribution to the country's digital connectivity and green energy programs, the company's Indonesian CEO has said.

Businesses aside, Huawei also provided a digital talent development program targeting the younger demographics of the population.

Indonesia is a major part of Huawei's global operations which currently have more than 197,000 employees with more than a half dedicated to research and development in over 170 countries across the globe.

“Our wish in Indonesia is to build a fully connected, 5G-oriented, and more intelligent Indonesia,” Jacky Chen said during a gathering with journalists in West Papua's Raja Ampat maritime resort.

While providing the necessary infrastructure for connectivity becomes the main priority, Huawei Indonesia is also committed to introducing information and communications technology (ICT) innovations from its huge R&D division, in which the company has been heavily investing over the past decade.

“If we check the figure of our investment last year, it's actually about $10 billion only in R&D,” Chen said, adding that Huawei is now ranked eighth as the world's best employer by a western research firm.

As a tech company, Huawei regards innovations as key to becoming a global leader in the industry and put around 105,000 employees worldwide in the R&D division.

“Each year we must invest not less than 15 percent of our revenues back in R&D,” Chen said.

Huawei's unique contribution to the Indonesian government's digital ambition is the ICT training course for university students with an opportunity for them to improve knowledge and skill with their ASEAN  counterparts.

“Huawei is committed to developing digital talents for this country. Within five years at least we should develop more than 100,000 digital talents. From last year until today, we already trained more than 40,000 students into digital talents,” Chen said.

The talent cultivation program, known as the Seeds for the Future, currently has more than 5,000 alumni in over 130 countries, according to Huawei.

Huawei also brought ICT solutions to help the Indonesian government mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic by providing AI-based diagnosis equipment which is claimed to be six times faster, with an accuracy rate of up to 93 percent.

It also offered support for telemedicine and provided communications equipment in critical hotspots, including in 600 hospitals. 

Huawei Group has recently established a special division called Digital Power to address challenges related to carbon emission and climate change by providing solar photovoltaic technology and main components of electric vehicles and their charging stations, among other things.

Business Runs Well
Huawei Indonesia enjoys a steady growth in revenues over the last five years with an average of 14 percent annually. 

It booked revenues of $1.37 billion last year, up from $1.25 billion a year earlier. Tax payment to the Indonesian government has averaged $124 million in the past five years. Growth is expected to slow for 2021 due to the pandemic.

Huawei's annual tax payment to the Indonesian government has exceeded $100 million since 2016, according to the company's financial report. Its procurement businesses with local suppliers reached $217 million year to date.

Chen said Huawei is partnering with local companies such as state-owned telecommunication company Telkom and cellular operators Telkomsel and Indosat in providing ICT solutions and infrastructure in Indonesia.

Huawei has now established logistics network from Sumatra in the west to the easternmost province of Papua and set up a regional office in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, he said.