A Library Talk in the Lecture Hall at the Lianqiu Lake Campus

—Minutes of Mr. Ren Zhengfei's Meeting with ICPC Foundation President, Coaches, and Contest Winners

Morning of November 14, 2025

Veronika Soboleva: Good morning, everyone. First of all, Mr. Ren, thank you for inviting the ICPC teams to this beautiful Lianqiu Lake Campus. We are honored to be here today. All participants represent the ICPC and they have worked very hard during the past year. We have more than 110 coaches and contest winners from more than 30 countries and regions at this event. We are so happy to be here to share our ideas and hear your insights. Thank you to Huawei for your considerate arrangements and for bringing ICPC community coaches and student representatives here. We have three major tasks, one of which is to connect academia, universities, and industry. So this is a hugely beneficial event. Welcome, everyone!

ICPC Foundation President: Thank you very much for inviting us to this beautiful place. It's a great place in every aspect. It's a place to make friends and gather together. I'd like to thank you for giving us this chance. One great word in English is "together", so thank you for bringing us together.

Mr. Ren: Thank you, ICPC President, coaches, and young gold medalists from around the world. We are now in an era of rapid change, and our hope lies in young people. You are shining with the radiance of youth. You are role models for today's young people, so you are the hope of the times.

I am not familiar with your specialties or how you work, and I'm a little at a loss in the face of this new era. However, I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to talk and establish bonds with you. Through these bonds, I can feel the pulse of the world and the aspirations of young people like you. Together, we feel the dynamics of this era. Even if we don't know where technology will take us, we can still explore and strive to move ahead together. I don't know much about you, so I can't give you a tailored speech. But I still want to talk with you and hear your thoughts.

Veronika Soboleva: Thank you very much, Mr. Ren. Over these past three days, we had wonderful workshops here at Huawei's campus. Many questions were raised and answers were given. There were a lot of questions related to AI that you may want to discuss with Mr. Ren, because this year's ICPC Challenges powered by Huawei mostly focused on AI. There were many questions about education and the difficulties and differences in different parts of the world, because some countries are very privileged in terms of access to education and some are not.

1. Veronika Soboleva: I would like to start with a question that I heard from a participant yesterday. In the current AI era, with the AI challenges that we are facing, where does Huawei stand? How can community help to solve these challenges? We have many ideas about where we need to work. But I think, in general, we would like to hear a little bit about your thoughts about the future of AI and what problems we have to overcome and how we can overcome these problems together.

Mr. Ren: When it comes to AI, I consider myself an amateur. I think we can understand the relationship between AI and humanity if we look at it from the perspective of time horizons. What will happen from 2045 to 3045 is a subject for sociologists and anthropologists to study. Yuval Harari is a representative of them. In his book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Mr. Harari explores the deep changes and potential impacts that AI advances may bring to social structures and humanity. Will his predictions prove accurate? With big data and model inference, young people like you may find this out in 20 years, and then have a true understanding of this era.

How technology will reshape social structures over the next 10 to 20 years is a topic for top visionaries and scientists to study.

At Huawei, we focus on the next 3 to 5 years, researching foundation models, big data, and massive computing power, and exploring how to apply them in industries, agriculture, and the tech sector. Take ironmaking in blast furnaces for example. With AI models, we can know how to properly control temperature at each layer of a furnace, reduce the temperature as appropriate, and optimize how to control fuel and ore blending. We can also predict the silicon content of the molten iron that will be produced in two hours, and decide on the optimal fuel-to-ore ratio. This AI-enabled approach increases the efficiency of blast furnaces by 1%.

China has realized unmanned coal mining, typically 500 to 700 meters underground but sometimes even deeper. You may wonder how this is possible. Data about long and narrow tunnels in an underground mine can be collected and pieced together into complete and uninterrupted videos in real time, allowing operators working above ground or in remote monitoring centers to control the machinery in the mine. It's also possible to predict gas explosions, water inrushes, and collapses, thus keeping miners safe. After coal is transported to the surface, coal preparation follows. AI models can increase coal preparation precision by 0.1%, which increases yields of high-quality coal.

In open-pit mines, fully autonomous excavation and transportation has become a reality, with hundreds of haul trucks and excavators operating without human drivers. At ports, autonomy is possible for container loading, unloading, stacking, and customs clearance. For example, Tianjin Port has achieved unmanned operations for container loading, unloading, stacking, and customs clearance. The same is true for the Port of Chancay in Peru. These are the types of things we focus on.

Another area of our focus is human health. I guess that you are familiar with pathological slices. Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai has used a pathology model at scale to make inferences about pathological slices and help doctors better diagnose cancer. Another example is the eye model of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University. With patient photos taken either by phone or with specialized devices, this model makes remote diagnosis possible and helps doctors in remote areas improve their diagnostic capabilities…

In addition, you may have learned about autonomous driving models for passenger cars, as well as our Celia chat model that runs on automotive cockpits and smartphones. We focus on these areas, using AI models to solve issues in real-world production and consumption scenarios. Of course, there is still huge room for improvement and a lot of know-how that we need to accumulate.

2. Q: Mr. Ren, I come from the National University of Singapore and am currently President of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). On behalf of IOI, I would like to express our deepest gratitude for Huawei's support and sponsorship over the years. As mentioned earlier, there are gaps across regions, with some regions lagging behind. What IOI aims to do next is help these regions by teaching them how to fish, rather than just giving them fish. As part of our future plans, we hope to bring together coaches from these regions, providing them with training materials and platforms to help improve their IT capabilities. If these regions lack programming capabilities, how can they possibly excel in AI? I hope that Huawei can support us on that front, so that these regions can improve their IT capabilities.

Mr. Ren: Currently, advanced networks can help address the challenges you just mentioned. In the past, to become top talent, we had to enroll in prestigious universities and take face-to-face classes with lecturers standing in front of us on a podium. Now, many world-renowned universities offer courses online, meaning students in remote villages can take these courses. The only difference is that they may not be able to receive coaching from university tutors. Otherwise, such students could be deemed to have studied at prestigious universities.

Networks are creating limitless possibilities for education, driving a shift from centralized learning in physical schools to decentralized learning online. This has driven huge progress in schools in remote regions.

Now, seven- or eight-year-old children sometimes ask questions that their teachers can't answer. This is because children today are picking up a lot of knowledge online and developing capabilities to think independently. The fact that teachers find their students' questions difficult to answer shows that society is progressing.

Thanks to networks, courses that were once accessible only in large cities like Beijing, New York, Boston, and London are now available to children in remote villages. Of course, it may be challenging for students in such villages to thoroughly understand these courses, so skilled tutors are also required. Students don't necessarily need to meet their tutors in person. They can engage with each other online. This change from a centralized, face-to-face educational model to a decentralized, digital one benefits human society as a whole.

When humanity progresses, children stand at the forefront. This means children are becoming smarter and society is progressing. The hope for the future lies in the youth, who will take on the responsibility of revitalizing society.

We can see how AI will boost productivity in 3 to 5 years. But I don't know what will happen in 5 to 10 or 10 to 20 years, or even in 20 years or beyond. AI is developing too rapidly, so I don't know where we will be heading in the future.

Some of what I mentioned earlier has already become a reality. For example, compact ultrasound probes can now be used to scan the abdomens of people in Xizang's pastoral areas, and the data can then be sent to a medical diagnostic center 3,000 kilometers away in Shenzhen. Ultrasound equipment in this center can detect hepatic hydatid in these people. This has been made possible by low-latency 5G networks and high-bandwidth optical fiber networks.

Ultrasound equipment is scarce in pastoral areas, but probes can be used to scan the livers of people there. This can be done as easily as we scan things with our mobile phones. Now, AI and 5G have made remote diagnoses possible. This approach can also be applied to education to drive significant progress in society.

3. Q: Mr. Ren, I am a coach from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Our team has won the 2002, 2005, and 2010 ICPC Championships. Later, I established the Competitive learning class with the aim of fostering computer scientists in China, not just winning more championships. It has been more than 20 years since this ACM Class was founded in 2002, and the Class is now highly influential in the world. Many students from the Class go abroad for further studies, and we hope they will return afterwards.

In the era of AI, China hopes to bring talent from abroad, but the development of science and technology in the country cannot always rely on attracting talent from other countries. It's important we develop our own talent. In my view, to become a technology powerhouse, China should first strengthen its education. In this era, how can China take a more forward-looking approach to education investment? Nowadays, many scientific and technological achievements don't come from universities but from the industry, and collaboration between universities and enterprises is no longer sufficient to rapidly address the country's education challenges.

Mr. Ren: Huawei is a company, and our focus is creating business value, while the focus of universities is exploring the future of humanity. Universities conduct research that aims to make breakthroughs from zero to one. It doesn't matter if they fail, as they cultivate talent during this process. Building upon the theories of their predecessors, these talented people will gradually reach new heights and create a better future. Meanwhile, enterprises translate these academic theories into industrial reality.

I recently met a great entrepreneur. He noted that China has very advanced hydroelectric generators, both in terms of reaction and impulse turbines. However, these inventions all originated from Western countries like Austria, France, and the US. Similarly, inventions adopted for China's railway systems, steamships, and textile machinery, etc. were also pioneered by the West. Even foundational mathematical concepts like calculus and geometry were first proposed by the West. In fact, universities are researching and exploring how to go from zero to one.

I think China will catch up and come up with original inventions. Let me give you an example. The world's best weather model was proposed by a 22-year-old engineer from our company and then developed using data from Europe's meteorological satellites. This engineer treated the entire universe as a wind tunnel and the Earth as a model. I've heard many people say this weather model is being used to predict crop yields, power generation, typhoon trajectory, and more. This shows that original innovations are also possible in China. Of course, the entire high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system represents an original innovation in China, as does the architectural design of NearLink transmission – a world-class invention.

We also have a 22-year-old woman engineer from Russia who invented a remainder algorithm. This algorithm could potentially change the structure of the multiply-accumulate units in our chips to boost chip performance. However, we haven't adopted this innovation. Why? Because, even after six to seven years, the chip we designed is still not ready for production, and we can't just switch to a new structure.

Therefore, universities and enterprises should have different goals, with the former focusing on education, and the latter on creating business value. If the goals are mixed together, we may go backwards.

4. Q: I'm from Hungary, which is the country where John von Neumann was born. We Hungarians take part in various international competitions. After hearing your thoughts, I have just a comment. In the AI era, the success of AI is most crucial for us. Finding the most talented students is vital, whether it's high school students or university students. I'd like to thank Huawei for the support of these talented people, because the mindset of identifying and solving problems is the most important for us in this AI era.

Mr. Ren: Hungary is a great country—the birthplace of not only remarkable scientists, but also influential statespersons. Many prominent figures in American politics and finance are of Hungarian heritage.

In China, many institutional innovations have led to the prosperity we see today. Before the reform and opening-up, our country was isolated from the rest of the world. Then, we began adopting many of the great achievements of other countries. This did not create a clash with our own civilization. Instead, their achievements led to huge amounts of innovation in China, and our economy experienced explosive growth. The inventions of previous centuries – ships, trains, clocks, and more – originated in Europe, and many even in small countries. After these innovations entered China, they greatly contributed to our own development.

We engage with friends from around the world, and connect with young people like you through ideas. It's all about making friends and getting to know one another. We are eager to communicate with the world, to learn about civilizations and cultures worldwide, and to create things that are useful for people in different parts of the world.

5. Q: I am a faculty member at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. I participated in programming competitions over the past 15 years. In the end, I chose an academic career over industry, because I wanted to contribute to society—especially by nurturing the next generation of contestants and promoting technological development. However, I have realized that research today urgently requires close academia-industry collaboration on everything, from computing power to data. For example, the problem in this year's ICPC Challenge Championship came from industry and was inspired by challenges the world has faced in large models and AI. The champion was a PhD student currently at Georgia Tech, who completed his undergraduate studies at Zhejiang University. In my view, this championship and its results showcased an excellent model of collaboration and exchange between universities and enterprises. In this new era, for people from China and around the world who engage in competitions—especially young competitors—what support would you like your company to offer in the future? What depth of communication and collaboration do you hope to achieve, in order to foster new achievements?

Mr. Ren: I believe that everyone follows a unique path in life. Some aim high, and some take on entry-level roles, but everyone contributes to society. Some university students will choose to become workers—workers of this new era.

Three years ago, we recruited over 3,000 bachelor graduates from universities in remote regions. After three years of cultivation, they have passed our technical certifications and are now workers for chipmaking and precision manufacturing at Huawei. In the future, the term "workers" will have new meanings. Some workers for precision manufacturing need to receive higher education. University graduates can also be workers, and their education should be the responsibility of higher education institutions.

Of course, we also need people who aim high—who try to make an impact on the world, to reach for the stars, and to change the course of history. All people need to work hard, but each person should walk the path that best suits them. Not everyone needs to shoot for the stars; what matters most is teaching according to individual aptitude, which is an essential educational approach.

But if you are able to reach for the very top, don't settle for taking on an entry-level role. One day, you may uncover the truth. When you can no longer climb higher, you can descend from your "Himalayas", "lay eggs along the way", and come down to "farm and raise cattle and pigs"… You will still be a hero. It's easier to strike downward than to reach upward. I encourage today's young people who have the potential to aim high to reach for the very top.

Meta offered each of several outstanding young people sign-on bonuses worth hundreds of millions of US dollars and annual salaries in the tens of millions, but there was barely any buzz on Chinese social media. Why? Because there was no envy. Today, there are many very talented entrepreneurs in China. It's feasible now for 7 or 8 people to co-found a company; or for 20 or 30 to form a partnership, with full ownership of all the shares. If they succeed, the rewards are entirely theirs. There are countless innovative startups led by young people in China. China is poised for remarkable progress in the next 3 to 5, or 5 to 10 years.

Millions of young Chinese people are dedicating themselves to the field of robotics, and capital is being invested in training them. Regardless of whether these ventures succeed or fail commercially, this still means several million outstanding young people are gaining important experience. This is good for China's modernization goals for industry, agriculture, and technology.

Young Chinese people are the backbone of our country's modernization. When they no longer envy others' systems, similar systems will take shape in China. Many students who have studied abroad are returning to start businesses with their classmates. They no longer envy others—they envy themselves. They are eager to turn their own ideas into reality as quickly as possible.

Recently, Xpeng unveiled a robot that could do a catwalk. Many people didn't believe it, and said there must be a human inside. At the launch event, Xpeng's boss He Xiaopeng even cut open the robot's outer shell with scissors to show all of the inside mechanics. The robotics industry has made huge progress, and these small companies are extremely capable. They represent the future and showcase what tomorrow's world could look like. However, it is still very difficult to make a real "human-like robot", as this involves complex factors like the Energy Efficiency Ratio for the brain and the nerve density for the skin. Nevertheless, there must be some people in the world to explore the future, and humanity has become what it is today after experiencing numerous failures. China is expected to make great progress over the next three to five years. A thriving China will be good to global prosperity.

6. Q: Hello, Mr. Ren. I am one contestant in this year's ICPC Challenge Championship. I completed my undergraduate studies at Zhejiang University and I'm currently in my second year of doctoral studies at Georgia Tech, the same school as the professor who just asked the previous question. I'd like to explore his question a bit further. My question is: If you could go back to being 20, how would you plan the first decade of your career? I understand that, as a corporate leader, you might consider where the younger generation as a whole should direct their efforts. But if we look at it from the perspective of an individual, how should they plan the early stages of their career? Thank you!

Mr. Ren: I can't go back to being 20. God hasn't given me the right visa for that. I can't imagine what I would do if I were at 20 again. Today, you are in your 20s. I'd say the most important thing is to stay ahead of the times and become a trendsetter. Don't place too much weight on money and don't care too much about whether your youth will be sacrificed. Instead, you should recognize the vital role you will play in contributing to the future of humanity.

Gregor Mendel discovered what we now call genes, but his work didn't receive widespread attention from the scientific community until a century or two later. These days, we all know how important genetics would eventually become to humanity, but you can imagine how lonely Mendel must have felt at the time when his discovery was overlooked. So don't worry about the choices other people make, including your classmates and friends. Instead, you should focus on what suits you best, because only you know yourself, and only you can decide which career to pursue and strive for. It doesn't matter if you succeed or not – most people don't. The path to failure is full of valuable lessons. Every attempt you make adds to your experience, and collectively, these experiences are a source of tremendous wealth.

7. Q: Hello, Mr. Ren. I'm a junior at Beijing Jiaotong University. This year, I won a gold medal at the ICPC World Finals in Baku, ranking third. I really want to thank Huawei for its support. My question is about personal growth. As mentioned earlier, we are now in the era of AI, which is advancing rapidly. I'm planning to pursue a PhD at Peking University's School of Computer Science under Professor Xie Tao, and I've already started engaging in some preliminary research work. In one of my papers I proposed some new ideas, but because they're in a more pioneering area of research, I have naturally encountered some skepticism. In general, we often face this kind of skepticism and doubt. Huawei has experienced moments like this as well, so my question is: How would you view and respond to skeptical voices, and how do you continue to push forward despite them? Thank you.

Mr. Ren: It's perfectly normal to keep moving forward despite skepticism. Many important scientific breakthroughs were first met with skepticism. For example, Fourier's proposal that any function could be expressed as a trigonometric series was not accepted by the French Academy of Sciences. Higgs' prediction of the existence of the boson was rejected upon submission, and Einstein challenged the Copenhagen interpretation of the uncertainty principle. As we've worked to drive the industry forward, Huawei has also faced skepticism when adopting polar codes and Massive MIMO for 5G networks. This is also true for work we've done in constellation shaping for optical communications, and multi-camera photography for smart phones. To make breakthroughs, you have to embrace challenges and innovate boldly.

China Railway is testing a new wireless dispatch system on its tracks, which uses 5G-Railway (5G-R) technology to dispatch high-speed trains running at 450 km/h. Radars used together with 5G-R can check the security of both railways and the axles of high-speed trains in real time. This is a huge leap forward. China's heavy freight trains can carry up to 30,000 tons of coal per train, and they are dispatched via wireless communications. The previous wireless dispatch system is based on GSM-Railway (GSM-R) technology. It manages train intervals and enables 20,000-ton freight trains to frequently deliver goods to Qinhuangdao. Once upgraded to the 5G-R system, it will be able to support tens of thousands of high-speed trains running at 450 km/h and freight trains carrying 30,000 tons of cargo.

Currently, over 10,000 high-speed trains are dispatched daily in China. Each node along this rail network requires real-time calculation. With such a massive railway transport network, AI plays a key role in dispatching and coordinating train operations.

One of the core technical leads of China's 12306 railway ticketing system is a model of our times. She has built 12306 into an incredibly massive, real-time ticketing system that ranks among the first in the world for both user visits and transaction volumes. As China's networks, including its freight networks, grow increasingly complex, there is an urgent need for cutting-edge mathematical solutions to deal with that complexity. This is the type of concrete direction you can take with your academic research.

China adds over 8,000 kilometers of railway each year, and its total operating mileage is expected to reach several hundred thousand kilometers in the future, making it the world's largest and most complicated rail network. By the time your generation becomes the mainstay of society, China might have upwards of 300,000 to 400,000 kilometers of main line tracks, not even counting intercity and subway systems. The dispatch of such an extensive transport network, along with operations like warehouse, cargo loading, and coordination management, represents an immensely intricate science that demands the expertise of highly skilled math PhDs to tackle these challenges effectively.

As you are from a "jiaotong" university, there are some urgent, complex challenges in transportation itself that need to be addressed.[1]

Q: Thank you, Mr. Ren. But I'm majoring in computer science and plan to do some exploration in AI in the future.

Mr. Ren: The daily maintenance of high-speed trains and, more broadly, the safety monitoring of trains running at high speeds are entirely powered by multimodal AI. During holiday peaks, the 12306 ticketing system becomes the busiest network in China, struggling to keep up with soaring data traffic. Moreover, railway manufacturing, construction, and transport systems rely heavily on computer information networks and AI should find its adoption in concrete scenarios.

8. Q: Hello Mr. Ren. I am a coach from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. One of our top students I've coached in the ICPC for seven years joined Huawei this year and now works in the data communication department. My question is, in your opinion, how long will it take before Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) becomes a reality? If it can be realized, many professions and jobs will be replaced by AI. So, what should young people in China be thinking about when they choose their college majors and future goals? My own kid will be taking the college entrance exam next year, and so, I would really appreciate your advice.

Mr. Ren: The US and China have different goals for AI. The US is exploring AGI and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), solving issues like what it means to be human and what the future of human society will look like. They want to comprehensively solve these issues, but getting to know the era takes time. In contrast, China is studying the adoption of AI in real-world scenarios, aiming to create more value and drive growth. The country is striving to ensure security in cities, improve education and public health, and achieve unmanned operations for mining and cement production. That means coal miners will be able to work wearing ties, suits, and even rings. This is a scenario we're seeing today. Imagine how spectacular it would be if boiling hot and dusty mines, freezing construction sites, and workshops located high in the mountains could run without people.

How can our country help this surplus of workers? By launching re-education programs – maybe something like an education voucher system that provides training subsidies to laid-off personnel. Unused schools and factories can then be turned into vocational training centers to reskill them.

The 12th National Congress of the CPC set a goal to improve the quality of the whole nation in regards to culture. Today, the country is in a period during which it needs to increase the levels of specialization of its people. Currently, vocational education in China starts at technical schools or junior colleges, with students mainly coming from junior high schools. These students are often too young to have a good command of information science. Many soldiers in the military are now university graduates, because they need to operate sophisticated weaponry.

As unmanned operations are increasingly adopted, some people will lose their jobs. However, for the country as a whole, total wealth will grow. For example, if a manned factory can produce 100 units, and an unmanned one can produce 120 in the same amount of time, then the surplus workers can be retrained and assigned to other positions.

Therefore, to address the issue of staff reduction, the country will need some form of re-education programs to transform redundant workers into the types of talent the country needs, because AI will certainly help increase the total wealth of the country.

People often say that software programming is manual work. However, as foundation models and agentic technologies are widely adopted in software development, AI-assisted computer software programming has reduced the workload of software engineers by about 30%, and this figure may reach 60% to 70% in the future. So, why aren't we advancing unmanned operations more quickly? Because slower advancement in this area is needed to ensure a stable social structure. One of the social benefits of AI is an increase in total wealth. But how can this wealth be shared? How can we help laid-off workers get re-employed? These are new challenges we need to address.

9. Q: Hello Mr. Ren. I am a doctoral student from Princeton University, currently working on research related to AI large language models. I would like to ask about a common issue in academia, which is a shortage in computing resources. I know that Huawei has been subject to restrictions on some key components over the past few years. So, how will you overcome these long-term resource constraints and take the next steps forward? Thank you!

Mr. Ren: I believe that in the near future, there will actually be a compute surplus, rather than a shortage as many have imagined. Building hundreds and even thousands of AI models is the right thing to explore. How large can these models be? And how much compute will they need? Huawei talked about Ascend 950, 960, and 970 when explaining the SuperPoD. But how many 970 chips will be needed and where can they be used? How many SuperPoDs will be needed? How will clusters be interconnected?

This is a prediction about linear technology development, an assumption about computing power that will surely become a reality. However, where can we see the demand? We still lack the ability to accurately predict demand. We can't even be sure that demand will be linear. What if it is nonlinear?

Therefore, I think a compute surplus will be inevitable. People like you who work on AI models do not need to worry about compute. You also don't need to worry about how models will benefit society. Another group of people – industry application engineers – will take care of this. They will figure out whether the training and inference of these models can lead to commercial applications for different industries.

Many people on the Internet say that Huawei is not a company that works on science. They're right. We work on technologies. Our company name is Huawei Technologies, not Huawei Science. You are the ones who study science. What we do is put scientific and technological achievements to use. However, within our company, we call some top talent "scientists". It's just a job title, a special label; it doesn't correspond to any external standards, so don't take it too seriously.

So, people like you, who are pursuing a scientific path and working on theoretical research, don't need to worry about whether your research will be applied in the real world. If you worry too much about applications, you will become an application specialist instead of a scientist. Engaging in theory is amazing work because theories are conceived and deduced through reasoning. Very few people can actually do this. Think about how difficult it was to figure out the Fourier transform, Laplace's equation, and Maxwell's equations. These were basically imaginary constructs created through mathematical deduction and physical intuition. How could these scientists have known at the time how useful these equations would be to society? While we excel in industry, we respect originality. This is key to maintaining sound relationships with Europe and the US.

10. Q: Hello, I'm from ICPC Mexico, and work at a university on the Pacific coast of Mexico. As you probably know, we have a female president for the very first time in Mexico and even in North America. And we've been providing more support to our female contestants. We have increased female participation in the ICPC to 1/4 and even 1/3. I would like to know your perspective on female participation and how we can continue encouraging girls to engage in STEM areas. My personal story relates to this because I came from a family with a great grandmother who had a very difficult childhood and could not attend school. She learned to read by herself because of her self-determination. And now, my young daughter is studying engineering. So I believe female participation in STEM areas relies on family support. But I would like to know your opinion as the great leader of this company.

Mr. Ren: Mexico is a great country. It is the origin of the Mayan civilization, and many staple foods like corn, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet potatoes were introduced to China from Mexico. Without these crops, China would have never had such a large population centuries ago, as its indigenous agriculture alone could not have afforded that. Mexico is truly great.

During the time of the Mayan civilization in Mexico, women's status was low because of heavy reliance on physical labor. When the Maya played their ball game, they used their hips to propel a ball through a stone ring. Women lacked the physical strength required for such games. In today's computer era, however, most tasks are done by typing on keyboards, where women perform just as well as men.

There are many female soldiers in the Chinese military, and some even fly fighter jets. When I see women in their 20s landing fighter jets on aircraft carriers, I really admire them. They are truly great. Chien-Shiung Wu was a female scientist who confirmed the theorem of parity violation during an experiment.

So, in the computer era, there is no big difference between men and women, because work in this era is largely intellectual and does not rely heavily on physical labor. If it did, women would struggle to compete with men.

It is great that more women in Latin America are participating in creative work. Latin America and Africa are among the world's richest regions in terms of material resources, but these resources remain largely untapped, meaning there is immense potential under the ground.

11. Q: Hi, Mr. Ren! I'm from Lobachevsky University in Russia, and I'd like to ask about Huawei challenges. You know they use quite a different format from the ICPC. You offer tasks close to business for participants. And one of the tasks was resolved two days ago. And now this format is very popular. So, my question is: What do you think about the future of such challenges? We will probably have to involve more experts and scientists, and make such challenges closer to business. And what do you think about the AI era, because we will probably need to resolve such challenges with AI assistance?

Veronika Soboleva: He is the coach of one of the ICPC World Final champion teams.

Mr. Ren: Our connection with the ICPC actually began quite by accident. I first met some of the ICPC representatives over coffee in Moscow. We thus became part of the ICPC community and later enhanced our collaboration with the ICPC. You provided us with a window to better understand the world and also people like you. Why does Russia produce ICPC champions year after year, and why does Google offer these champions salaries that are six times as much as the average? Of course, besides Novosibirsk State University, other universities in Russia, like St. Petersburg State University, ITMO University, and Lobachevsky University, are also great.

Russia has been a leader in theoretical research. Many countries, including Russia, France, and the US, excel in mathematics. In the US, mathematics has been largely dominated by immigrants. In France, Louis XIV and Napoleon both championed mathematics as a national priority. In Russia, Peter the Great and Catherine II introduced mathematics. Of course, many other countries also excel in mathematics.

Around two or three decades ago, we started gaining a better understanding of Russia when I sent people there to establish the Moscow Research Center. The center initially focused on reliability models. Our team said that hardware in Russia was too bulky, but I stressed that reliability was not just about hardware and that software was also important. Software algorithms are all about mathematics. We then recognized the importance of Russia's theoretical prowess. So we deepened our collaboration with the country. Russia excels in mathematics, physics, and numerous other theoretical sciences. This is why we have established a significant presence there. We respect the talent and technology of every country and have established organizations in different countries for collaboration and shared growth.

12. Q: I'm from the University of Bucharest in Romania. Our university has had a really nice collaboration with Huawei, but one of the things holding our collaboration from being larger is the fact that Huawei doesn't have an engineering office in Romania. I'm curious how Huawei makes a decision where to open the offices. Is this a decision taken from the center, or is it acquisition?

Mr. Ren: Romania is a great country.

There is generally a lot of creativity in Eastern European countries. Romania has a long history excelling in mathematics competitions, and it hosted the very first International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

Romania once exported oil engineering technologies to China. In the early days, China learned about oil exploration technologies from Romania and Azerbaijan. Back then, oil exploration relied on simulation technologies. Romania is one of the cradles of the modern oil industry in Europe. In case their oil reserves would ever be depleted, the country also developed a strong manufacturing industry for oil exploration equipment. Since the 1990s, China has turned to the US for digital oil exploration technologies. To date, China has made significant progress in this area.

In the early days, Romania played a very important role in China's industry development. We will continue working closely with Romania, and expanding our business in Europe as appropriate.

13. Q: I am currently an undergraduate student in my final year in Jakarta, Indonesia. I have heard, especially from my professors, about AI and its usage and development in Indonesia. Currently, my professors told me that, especially in my country, the current focus on AI is more on applying the existing technologies that we already have, instead of making new breakthroughs or trying out new innovations in research. As someone that may be planning on doing further studies in the future, I would like to ask what is your opinion on this? And do you have any tips or words you would like to give regarding this to me or to other fellow contestants here who may want to pursue further studies in technology or even work in the industry?

Mr. Ren: I agree with your professors. Your most urgent task is not to compete for global leadership in computing power or large models, but to strive for leadership in applications. This is well-suited to the actual conditions in your country. For example, Indonesia has many ports. First, the automation of ships and ports needs to be powered by AI, and Indonesia has already applied AI at scale in this area. Second, many of your islands are only 50 to 60 kilometers apart from each other, so it's very easy to build a complete radio communications system across the islands.

When combined, China's BeiDou satellites and Huawei's technologies can achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy on Earth. This is suitable for Indonesia. In the past, docking a ship required the use of mooring lines, which was complicated. But now, ships can be docked automatically with the support of electromagnetic technologies, which is much easier. These AI technologies will greatly boost industrial advancement in Indonesia. AI applications in agriculture are also very important. Currently, automated farming can already be seen in some places in China.

14. Q: I am a professor from Belarus. I was involved in some projects. My question is about, in five years, maybe there will be some places without AI, and maybe it'll be necessary to ask where there is a place without AI. For example, for some students, especially in mathematics, psychology, and stuff like that, maybe it'll be much better to do something by ourselves.

Mr. Ren: Belarus has made great achievements in thermal engineering theory and technology, and you've developed things like advanced heat pipe and magnetorheological finishing technologies. Heat dissipation is crucial for chips. The thermal theory from Belarus has helped us develop technologies that are outside of the US's control in some cutting-edge areas. Heat dissipation is the biggest challenge for chips. If heat cannot be effectively dissipated, chip performance will be significantly affected. These are all highly-advanced scientific, technological, and engineering issues.

Belarus has enormous development opportunities, and AI will be very useful there. But you should focus more on AI applications, rather than inventions. Inventing AI may involve only one IT company. Applying AI can make a country strong. Of all the value created by AI, IT companies will only contribute 2%, and the remaining 98% will come from AI applications in industries, such as driving, mining, steelmaking, hydraulic engineering, glass manufacturing, and healthcare. The value AI brings will be immense. For example, I mentioned earlier that AI can improve coal preparation precision by 0.1%. If you multiply 0.1% by 4 billion metric tons, how much is that? AI can also increase the smelting capacity of blast furnaces by 1%. Considering that China produces 1 billion metric tons of steel and consumes billions of metric tons of coal annually, how much coal can we save with just this 1% capacity increase? So, AI will be everywhere, but the key lies in how to make the best use of it.

15. Q: I was born in Indonesia and I'm currently studying at the University of Toronto. Max Planck laid the foundations for quantum mechanics. In many Western countries, people are talking not only about AI, but also about quantum computing. Quantum is being applied in cryptography, and there are quantum chips. These are all cutting-edge areas. Quantum chips could break all encryption software, but right now they are not stable enough to produce reliable results. After extensive research, I think, in the near future, advancement in quantum is inevitable. So I'm curious: What is Huawei's take, and China's take, on quantum chips? Is this an area Huawei focuses on? And in the future, would you try to win in this quantum race?

Mr. Ren: Thank you! You are a student of Hinton. That's incredible! Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, a Godfather of Deep Learning, and Richard Sutton, a Turing Award recipient, are both giants in the field of AI.

Breakthroughs in quantum science are inevitable. It's just a matter of time that quantum computers become a reality, bringing significant advantages for specific types of computation.

The research on quantum computers is a shared challenge for all humanity – and a national imperative. Quantum research isn't something that Huawei's prepared to take on. But if quantum computers become a reality, we may consider buying them. As for quantum computers breaking global encryption systems, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

The same logic applies to nuclear fusion. Some people say "nuclear fusion will undoubtedly succeed," and I believe it will. But the question is when. When nuclear fusion is achieved, it will completely revolutionize the energy landscape. But does that mean we should stop building power plants today and simply wait for fusion? That's why we still see massive investments in power systems this year.

Quantum computing will surely succeed, but we can't predict exactly what form AI will take in the future. We can't let the promise of tomorrow in some areas keep us from putting efforts into some other areas today.

16. Q: I'm from Japan. I graduated from the Institute of Science Tokyo. Now, I'm working in industry. First of all, thank you for this great opportunity to gather in one place. This is fantastic. Thank you for this great opportunity. I remember you mentioned the advancement of telecommunications technology. I'd like to elaborate a little bit more on this. I remember during the COVID era, we all went remote. I think that sped up the advancement of telecommunications technology. But now, we've come back to in-person style, like this great campus. So, I guess you are bringing many employees here in one place to work together for your business. I also agree with the power of humans gathering in-person, not on video conferencing. I also believe the same for conferences like the ICPC, where we all gather in one place and solve the same question. This is great. There's something special about in-person meetings.

My question is: Is this going to last for the coming decade? Will we continue to prefer meetings in person or will other more advanced technologies break this? For instance, will Huawei make employees go fully remote again? Or are you going to stick to the in-person style?

Mr. Ren: When Alvin Toffler wrote The Third Wave, he described remote work and telecommuting. I was young at the time and did not fully understand it, and I wondered whether it would ever become a reality. Today it has been proven true. Even when we now meet in person, the time we spend on this represents only a tiny fraction, perhaps one-thousandth, of our overall interactions. Most of our communication takes place online. Without Internet-based work, our company would struggle to survive because we do not have such extensive physical space.

We establish workgroups, but where are their members located? In which countries? Often, we don't know. We merely issue an appointment for a workgroup. As the employee IDs of workgroup members are provided there, a WeLink group will quickly form, and members of the workgroup change constantly across time zones. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of Internet-based work, but physical offices will not disappear. Is it still possible for people to meet regularly in person for a coffee? Yes, but it comes with a cost.

The trend towards remote work will remain unchanged, but we may hope for more face-to-face communication. There will be opportunities for this, but not many. Physical universities are important, but online education is gradually showing its value. Networks play an important role, especially in enabling the emergence of talented individuals in less developed regions.

Radio was invented by Alexander Popov, and lift theory by Nikolay Zhukovsky. Russia has many inventions, but the conservatism of the ruling government at the time prevented them from being made public. That's why they are unfamiliar to many. James Watt was not a professor; he started out as a steam engine repair worker. Michael Faraday started as a bookbinder in a printing shop. Yet both became world-renowned figures. This is why we should select talent regardless of background. The spread of knowledge over the Internet gives many people the opportunity to shine.

Online communication is definitely important, but face-to-face communication is also necessary. We will continue creating opportunities for contest winners to meet in person, and not necessarily in Shanghai. This could take place elsewhere.

Veronika Soboleva: The ICPC is a family. It's important for family to get together. We have dozens of in-person events throughout the world during the year. And this Huawei event is one more. So, we are thankful for our family to get together.

17. Q: I'm from Germany. So, over the last few days, and even further beyond, I've heard a lot about the research Huawei does into AI. But now we've also had questions about quantum computing and about telecommunications. So, I'm curious how high of a priority AI research is for Huawei compared to other fields, and how many of your research resources go into AI compared to other fields?

Mr. Ren: Artificial intelligence dates back to Alan Turing. Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton had promoted the use of AI back in the 1980s, but the world did not respond. I once met Mr. Hinton. It wasn't until Germany introduced Industry 4.0 that AI began to gain traction. Huawei's research over the next three to five years will be comparable to Germany's Industry 4.0.

AI holds an important position within Huawei, but what's most important for us at the moment is communications technology, or CT, which includes radio, optical communications, core networks, and data communication. Why? AI's sensing and control capabilities will depend on data transmitted across thousands of kilometers, which will require highly advanced networks. For AI to truly generate value, we need to collaborate across society and draw on each other's unique strengths. Unconnected computing networks will be information silos, and siloed AI will not represent real intelligence.

18. Q: I study at the National University of Singapore and thanks so much for organizing this and thanks for providing us with the space to ask our questions. America poaches lots of talent from all throughout the world, from even the smallest countries. I believe in the power law distribution. I believe that the best people, the people that achieve the highest excellence in science, competitions like that, or like in academia, in entrepreneurship, I believe those people are responsible for the greatest contributions to progress, to the industry, to development. And I believe it's really crucial for companies to get those kinds of people if they want to be the best. But usually the best people have good optionality. They could choose any place to go; especially, lots of the most exceptional people go to finance companies to work on hedge funds, because these companies provide good compensation packages. And I'm curious, would you agree that it's important to attract the best talent from the world? And what's China's plan or Huawei's plan and what's the strategy to make those people choose China in spite of all the optionality they got and despite barriers like language or cultural differences? What's the general plan about this? And how do you plan to approach it? Thank you!

Mr. Ren: The US is fertile land for talent to grow, and it's a good thing that a lot of talented people go to the US for self-growth, including a lot of young Chinese people. This is not a bad thing. They take root in the US and participate in the creation of new technologies. One of Google's two founders is from Russia, and they created the Android system, which is now used around the world. China also benefits from that. I'm not saying that companies like Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Intel are not creating value for China. Of course they are. The US does not allow Huawei to use technologies containing US elements, but this does not mean it does not allow China or other parts of the world to use its technologies. When talent from around the world go to the US and create new technologies, this helps the world move forward. They are unleashing their talents to create value and enjoying a decent life in the US. That's understandable.

The technologies created by the US are not harmful to the world. On the contrary, they are benefiting humanity. We should support the development of US technologies. How can the US make money if it closes its doors and doesn't allow others to use its technologies? As the US makes money from other countries, it also helps industry in those countries advance. Similarly, without European civilizations, we wouldn't have cars, trains, ships, and things like that.

The US has pretty much only come after Huawei. Most Chinese companies do not face the same restrictions from the US, so they can still use US technologies, tools, ecosystems, instruments, chips, and tape-out processes. This supports industry development in China. We want globalization and want to stand on the shoulders of giants. We are doing everything on our own because we have no other choice. As we rely totally on ourselves, we can't compete against others who have access to global resources. In fact, the chips we use are at least one generation behind those used by other Chinese companies in a lot of ways.

China still has a lot of catching-up to do, so of course it needs to attract some talent. Things are much better today than when I was young. Young people today are happy, upbeat, and full of drive. Now China also has fertile soil and opportunities for talent to grow, and a lot of young people are starting up new businesses here. However, I would say China still needs to hasten the pace as it looks to catch up with the US.

As a business organization, Huawei can't hire too many employees. We can't feed that many people. We may one day need to reduce our workforce. When we work with the ICPC though, we don't have any particular purpose. We don't ask everyone to join Huawei. Some talent may not be able to unleash their potential if they work at Huawei, because top talent require the right platform. Of course, what people eat in Singapore is quite similar to what we eat here in China.

From where we stand now, I think China needs to become even more open, learn from all other countries around the world, and allow their civilizations in. We must not close ourselves off from the rest of the world. Through the reform and opening-up, China opened its doors to the outside world, and let other civilizations in. This has not created a clash with our own civilization. Instead, the mingling of different civilizations has created new value, and it has helped make China what it is today. China's opening-up has made the country a lot richer, but it is still not rich enough. The type of rich we want to be must come with high quality.

The Chinese government has proposed the concept of "new quality productive forces", which means China needs to "hit the gym" and "build more muscle" in order to become more prosperous. The products we develop must be of high quality. This is necessary if we want them to become very popular around the world. If the quality of our products sold outside China is not good enough, people will say Chinese products aren't good. Then China would lose its international market, which will hinder the country's development.

Huawei used to be a small company that worked behind closed doors. We are now slowly opening up. Over the years, we've connected with 700 or 800 people from the ICPC family, which has helped us build solid bonds with many countries. Mathematics know no national borders; neither do theories. We can read and use the papers you publish, and you also have access to the papers we publish. Our Chaspark website is the communication platform we use. You can find people who share your ideas on this platform. Say they come from Iceland, then you can communicate with each other via this global science and technology platform.

Veronika Soboleva: Mr. Ren, thank you for this inspiring talk. I especially like your talk of the mingling of civilizations, which is something that we hold on very closely in the ICPC. We are a big family. So, thank you so much for this inspiration.

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[1] Note: Mr. Ren is making a small joke here, referencing the name of the university. "Jiaotong" means transportation.