Huawei is controlling the game, Yu Chengdong brings 780 billion to the table

On March 4th, Huawei HarmonyOS Smart Travel held its first Spring Festival product launch event.

The main focus was on the upgraded Ask界 M9 and Zun界 S800, which debuted as the first vehicles equipped with the world’s highest-specification 896-line laser radar for mass production.

Richard Yu made it clear that the beginning of the year is all about high-end positioning. As Huawei’s Executive Director, Chairman of the Product Investment Review Committee, and Director of the Terminal Business Group, Yu proudly spoke about the “Five Realms” gathered by HarmonyOS Smart Travel.

He revealed that AITO Ask界, LUXEED 智界, STELATO 享界, MAEXTRO 尊界, and SAIC 尚界 have delivered over 1.28 million units in total, maintaining the top average transaction price among Chinese auto brands for 14 consecutive months.

In terms of average transaction price, these five realms under Yu’s leadership are clearly targeting the high-end market.

Especially with Ask界, which Yu personally nurtured, becoming a flagship for Huawei, attracting many automakers to collaborate, leading to the current “Seven Major Factions” composed of state-owned enterprises with a combined market value of 780 billion yuan, and the emergence of the “Five Realms + Two Domains,” with Huawei positioned as the “Wulin Alliance Leader.”

During the event, Yu couldn’t hide his pride when talking about Ask界 M9.

He said that the Ask界 M9, competing one against four, has successfully surpassed BMW X5/X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLE/GLS in sales over the past two years, and has become the 2025 luxury SUV sales champion in the 500,000-yuan segment.

According to Seres data, from 2022 to the first half of 2025, Seres paid Huawei a procurement fee of 75 billion yuan to its largest supplier. In the first half of 2025 alone, Seres paid Huawei 20 billion yuan, meaning that for every Ask界 vehicle sold, 140,000 yuan belongs to Huawei.

For Huawei, which changed Seres’ fate, this money is well deserved.

It also signifies that in the automotive industry, Huawei is no longer just a “powerful supplier.”

Today, Huawei is more like a variable redistributing industry power. For many traditional Chinese automakers, Huawei is not an ordinary partner but a lifeline of technology and also a disruptor of the established order.

Huawei is helping traditional automakers fill their smartness gaps while quietly rewriting the value distribution in the automotive industry.

While assisting automakers in selling cars, Huawei also makes automakers increasingly worried that ultimately, it will be the “Huawei” brand, not the automaker brands, that consumers remember.

Traditional automakers need Huawei but also fear Huawei

Currently, traditional automakers are in a paradoxical state: they need Huawei and compete eagerly to cooperate, yet they also fear Huawei, maintaining a defensive and cautious stance.

Because Huawei offers a complete set of the most scarce capabilities in the era of smart vehicles, including product definition, intelligent driving, smart cabins, electronic and electrical architecture, terminal channels, brand momentum, and even user perception.

Together, these are an irresistible temptation for traditional automakers.

Their strengths have traditionally been in manufacturing—factories, supply chains, cost control, quality systems, organizational efficiency.

But the electric era has lowered mechanical barriers, and the smart era has raised software barriers. In other words, what once limited a carmaker’s ceiling were engines, transmissions, and chassis; now, it’s assisted driving, intelligent cabins, software update speed, and the data feedback loop behind them.

Who controls the software, controls the “soul” of the car.

This is precisely where most traditional automakers are weakest.

Therefore, they need Huawei. Huawei can bundle its technological capabilities, product experience, brand appeal, and sales channels into a package for automakers, like a hero stepping down from a rainbow cloud.

While being “rescued” by this “hero,” traditional automakers are also ceding control, allowing Huawei to deeply participate in product definition, core technology R&D, brand marketing, and retail terminals, unleashing Huawei’s full potential.

As traditional automakers accelerate their transformation and increase sales, they become more dependent on Huawei.

Losing their independence, it’s inevitable that they fear Huawei. The most direct sign is that more consumers, when talking about Ask界, 智界, 享界, are essentially referring to “Huawei cars,” not Seres, Chery, BAIC… This indicates that the consumer perception anchor is shifting from the manufacturer to the technology brand.

For traditional automakers, this is a very dangerous signal.

For over a century, the automotive industry has seen brands controlled by OEMs; consumers buy Mercedes-Benz for Mercedes, BMW for BMW. No matter how strong the technology supplier, they rarely overshadow the entire vehicle brand.

But with Huawei, the logic is changing.

Consumers increasingly judge cars first by Huawei’s intelligent driving, HarmonyOS cockpit, Huawei ecosystem, and Huawei stores, rather than which factory produced the car.

Once this perception becomes ingrained, the worst-case scenario for traditional automakers occurs: they are pushed back to the “manufacturing side,” while Huawei remains on the “value side.”

This is why, as Huawei’s car sales grow, some automakers become more anxious. Higher sales mean Huawei’s market explanation, discourse, and dominance grow stronger.

Ask界’s success benefits not only Seres but also further confirms one thing: Huawei can do not only smartphones, systems, and channels but also define high-end cars.

By February 2026, HarmonyOS Smart Travel’s total deliveries will reach 28,212 units, a 31% year-over-year increase, with Ask界 still being the core sales pillar. As sales concentrate at the top, this “Huawei-as-brand” siphoning effect intensifies.

For partner automakers, Huawei’s dominance isn’t always good news.

In the short term, Huawei brings orders; in the medium term, it prompts organizational reassessment; in the long term, it could rewrite brand ownership. Many traditional automakers cannot fully trust Huawei—they must cooperate deeply but also keep some backhand.

They want Huawei to push products into the market but are reluctant to outsource all smart capabilities. They hope Huawei can help them break out of the transformation trough but fear ending up with only manufacturing qualifications and a few factories.

This is the real dilemma faced by traditional automakers when dealing with Huawei. They understand the risks of cooperation—perhaps too well—but in the face of survival pressures, their long-term anxieties are pushed aside.

Why only Huawei?

Would Chinese automakers be willing to hand over their smartification?

The answer is usually no.

But if they hand it over to Huawei, things change.

Because in China, very few companies possess all four capabilities simultaneously:

1. Fundamental technological capability.

2. Engineering implementation ability.

3. Consumer brand strength.

4. Terminal sales capacity.

Huawei is almost the only company that holds all four.

Huawei has built its foundation from telecommunications, chips, operating systems, terminals, cloud, and AI. Nearly every critical module in smart cars can find corresponding capabilities within Huawei’s ecosystem. The core technologies showcased by HarmonyOS Smart Travel already include assisted driving and intelligent cabins as unified selling points.

For automakers, this isn’t just about leading in individual areas but about overall system upgrades.

More importantly, Huawei doesn’t just do technology. It also excels in product development, marketing, and retail—an extremely critical advantage.

Many traditional Chinese automakers have attempted smartification, but the problem isn’t “whether to do it,” but “no one perceives it.” The harsh reality in the automotive industry is that technology alone doesn’t equal a product.

Automakers can invest billions in intelligent driving, cabins, and platforms, but if consumers don’t recognize or have a reason to buy, these technological investments won’t translate into sales.

Huawei’s advantage is that it can directly translate technological capabilities into consumer language, knowing how to package complex features into simple, understandable messages. This is both a technical communication skill and a product methodology cultivated in consumer electronics.

Another practical reason is that Huawei already has retail stores and consumer recognition. Building a sales network for a new brand is one of the hardest parts—opening stores, staffing, training, marketing, test drives, after-sales—all require huge investments.

Huawei, with its extensive consumer electronics retail system, is not starting from zero in selling cars.

When traditional automakers begin their smart transformation, they face insufficient technology and channels. Huawei, beyond its smart capabilities, also provides an existing retail touchpoint network. For brands with weak brand influence, limited channels, and underdeveloped smart tech, this support is like saving them from drowning.

Therefore, only Huawei.

Not because other companies can’t do certain individual tasks, but because only Huawei can turn smartification into a complete commercial closed loop. It solves R&D, sales, experience, and branding issues simultaneously; it handles both hardcore technology and mass communication.

From this perspective, choosing Huawei isn’t just a technological decision but a practical one—selecting the partner most likely to deliver quick results, boost sales, and shorten the transformation cycle in a competitive environment.

Huawei has thus become a unique entity. It’s not a traditional automaker nor a typical supplier but more like an “intelligent automotive platform company.” This is precisely why many traditional automakers are eager to work with it.

Conclusion

Besides the seven state-owned automakers collaborating with Huawei to launch new brands, many other traditional automakers are actively partnering with Huawei, such as Changan’s Avita, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Huawei-based HuiJing S, and Dongfeng’s comprehensive embrace of Huawei technology…

These are the reasons Yu Chengdong is confident.

Led by HarmonyOS Smart Travel, Huawei has become a hot topic in China’s automotive industry, successfully carving out a niche for itself and providing traditional automakers with a powerful accelerator for transformation.

It’s foreseeable that Huawei’s “dominant” position will only strengthen, with more automakers betting on this “table” than the current 780 billion yuan valuation.