Huawei says 6G tech still being defined; 2030 launch possible

HUAWEI Technologies Co., Ltd. said the sixth-generation wireless communication technology or 6G, which the technology industry anticipates to be available in the market by 2030, remains unclear to the company.

“We think 6G will be launched in the market around 2030, but we still don’t know what 6G is,” Eric Xu, Huawei’s rotating chairman, said at the “Huawei Global Analyst Summit 2021” on April 12.

“The only thing we know is that our industry wants to launch something that could contribute to enterprises as well as consumers by around 2030 just like what the industry has done with 4G and 5G,” he added.

He said Huawei is currently working with other industry players to define what 6G actually is.

Huawei intends to launch its white paper on 6G “in the near future” to show to consumers and businesses what the technology would look like, Mr. Xu noted. “At the same time, we are also conducting research into cutting-edge technologies to help us, as well as the whole industry, in realizing 6G.”

“If the industry concludes that all of the scenarios and use cases that 6G is supposed to support can actually be supported by 5G or 5.5G, then 6G would be of little value. If that’s the case, we will have to wait for the next generation of industry players, who may be smarter than us or who may have different technology consumption behaviors, to brainstorm and come up with use cases that can only be addressed by 6G. That’s how the demand will come for 6G,” Mr. Xu explained.

Mr. Xu reiterated that Huawei should definitely prepare itself for the possible arrival of 6G with the necessary investment.

Huawei also intends to invest more in businesses that are less reliant on advanced process techniques.

It will also invest more in components for intelligent cars, maximize 5G and define 5.5G with other industry players “to drive the evolution of mobile communications.”

“We will continue to find ourselves in a complex and volatile global environment. The resurgence of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) as well as geopolitical uncertainty will present challenges for every organization, business, and country,” Mr. Xu noted. — Arjay L. Balinbin