Huawei Targets Database Market in Challenge to Oracle – The Information
What happened: Chinese smartphone giant Huawei is set to unveil a new cloud database software at a press event scheduled for this week. The launch of the new product will likely ramp up competition for dominant players in China including Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP. The new cloud database software, which enables enterprises to use AI to manage data, was developed by Chinese database research company Gauss. According to a manager at Huawei, the company’s initial focus will be the China market where it feels it has a better shot at growing a customer base.
Why it’s important: Huawei’s enterprise business division, which includes cloud and data centers, saw nearly 24% year-on-year growth in 2018. The company’s move comes amid political tension between the US and China, where cloud services are a recurring topic on the negotiation table. Foreign cloud service providers are hindered by local regulations and are facing further challenge to market growth from domestic players like Huawei. Earlier this month, it was reported that enterprise and cloud computing giant Oracle is laying off hundreds of employees in China and restructuring its business to focus more on cloud computing.