Video: Prospering with AI is a full-stack strategy

Kui Zhen has close ties to Africa. He led Huawei in Mauritius for several years before moving to focus on digitizing national and public services across the continent. At the beginning of 2026, he assumed the top position at Huawei Enterprise South Africa, taking the helm at a pivotal and opportune moment for the country.

There isn’t a major company or public sector organization in South Carolina that isn’t thinking about artificial intelligence. According to World Wide Worx’s South Africa Generated AI Roadmap 2025 report, more than two-thirds of local organizations report actively using AI, with 15% of organizations already offering approved AI tools.

However, while these trends are encouraging, they do not highlight the technical and infrastructure challenges that organizations need to address to reap the long-term benefits of AI.

AI is not just a step up. This is a new level of how companies can improve insight, productivity, and competitiveness. These ambitions depend on how we can leverage our infrastructure, data and digital services, and we need strong partners with a wide range of experience and capabilities in these areas.

Huawei is that partner, Zheng said, noting that Huawei is one of the few vendors with a true full-stack perspective on AI and digitalization.

“Huawei has been deep into the AI ​​industry in recent years. We have Huawei’s AI chipsets, data centers and networks. We aim to be a long-term partner in driving this digital and intelligence transformation across the industry, especially in South Africa.”

This strategy was echoed at the Huawei IT Day held at the Houghton Hotel in Johannesburg. Hundreds of attendees gathered to see what Huawei had to offer.

It is recognized as a digital pioneer, pioneering cloud (in 2019, Huawei became the world’s first cloud provider to open a local data center), communications infrastructure including 5G, consumer devices, and a full range of enterprise solutions.

At Huawei IT Day, we further expanded on that reputation by unveiling new appliances such as OceanStor Dorado storage, which delivers high throughput and low latency. OceanProtect with advanced ransomware protection. Huawei DCS/HCS full-stack data center solution. Huawei specifically focuses on AI and has developed the Atlas 950 SuperPoD, which improves the efficiency and reliability of hosting AI models.

The capabilities of these appliances reflect Huawei’s two strategic priorities. One is about leveraging data, Zheng said.

“The quality of data in South Africa is very high. Data infrastructure is evolving from traditional support systems to AI production systems. Once you accumulate data, you need to think about how you use this data. But the more data you accumulate, the more data security and protection you need. We are the ones providing this full stack, whether it’s storage, compute, network or cloud.”

AI also opens up new use cases for cold data and enhances storage, protection, and delivery requirements. But this change is not just about infrastructure. The next priority is expertise and skills.

“We will continue to invest in the local market, including in talent development, and strengthen our partner ecosystem. We will leverage our knowledge and global practices to grow the entire South African ecosystem.”

This global reach and capability overlaps with an emerging area of ​​interest: procurement. Market demands are creating shortages in critical digital equipment, and businesses of all types are relying on vendors and their partners to solve supply chain dilemmas.

Huawei is particularly well-positioned to withstand these market disruptions. We are not immune to supply chain challenges, but over the past few years we have adapted both logistically and culturally to find viable and lasting solutions.

“Huawei is customer-centric and thinks about how to diversify its supply chain. We ensure stability of supply through measures such as strategic inventory planning and flexible capacity allocation. That way, we can always provide products to our customers. We are focused on how to solve our customers’ challenges, regardless of their problems or requirements.”

Mr. Zheng is excited to take the lead at Huawei Enterprise South Africa. A diverse population, a strong economy and a well-developed digital industry form the basis of a rich country and a prosperous continent, he says.

“In the SA market, the demand for digitalization is growing very rapidly and will continue to increase,” says Zheng. “Huawei is very excited to be a part of it.”