Huawei to reward employees with 2 billion yuan bonus for helping it weather impact of US technology ban

Besides the shared bonus, each employee will receive double their salary as appreciation for efforts to help the company get through the hard times

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A man uses his smartphone outside of a shop selling Huawei products at a shopping mall in Beijing. Photo: AP

Li Taoin Shenzhen

Published: 11:35am, 12 Nov 2019Updated: 10:05pm, 12 Nov 2019

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecoms giant that has been barred from buying US technology, has allocated a special cash award worth 2 billion yuan (US$285.4 million) to distribute among employees who have contributed to its contingency plan to help minimise the impact of the ban, according to people familiar with the matter.

While those who will benefit have not been identified, it is believed people in research and development roles, especially at Huawei’s chip arm HiSilicon that have come up with alternatives to US components, and those developing the company’s in-house operating systems, will most likely share in the award, according to employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the information is private.

Besides the 2 billion yuan shared bonus, each Huawei employee will receive double their salary this month in appreciation of efforts to help the company get through the hard times, the people said.

Huawei declined to comment on the bonus scheme.

Huawei, which employs 190,000 people and is the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendor, will deposit the double salary into employee bank accounts on November 15.

On Sunday Shenzhen-based Huawei marked 180 days since it was put on a US trade blacklist due to US national security concerns, which prompted company wide efforts to stabilise operations that were cut off from certain US technologies, including Google’s Android OS.

After the ban was imposed in mid-May, HiSilicon president Teresa He Tingbo said in a letter to employees that Huawei's chip arm had for many years devoted significant resources to a backup plan that would ensure the survival of the group if it was cut off from US technology.