On a fan community page on Chinese social media platform Weibo, hundreds of users have posted comments and pictures, some covered in little red hearts, to express their admiration for a star they affectionately call Kun Kun. “Kun Kun flies bravely, iKun will always follow him; Kun Kun never gets old, and will remain a blue-chip till the end,” some users wrote alongside the picture. “Kun Kun,” whose full name is Zhang Kun, is neither a pop star nor actor. Instead, he is one of China’s most prominent fund managers who oversees around 120 billion yuan ($18.6 billion) in assets at E Fund Management, an established Chinese asset management firm. Zhang’s followers, who label themselves “iKun,” (“i” is a homophone for the Chinese word love), have also created accounts on Weibo posing as his “global fan clubs.” “Kun Kun, I would like to accompany you for many, many years,” a follower wrote. “Let’s witness both the bull and bear markets, but still return with young hearts.”
As the 5G era comes closer with more and more operators preparing to switch to next generation networks, China’s telecom giant is set to satisfy enormous domestic demand, shipping 100 million smartphones in 2020.
This is according to Shoichi Tosaka, chief executive of the Japanese materials and electronics company Taiyo Yuden, which supplies ceramic capacitors to various smartphone makers. In an interview, the CEO said that Huawei, together with another Chinese tech firm ZTE, placed the most orders for components to make more 5G base stations.
“We’re already getting orders for 5G base stations,” he said earlier this week as cited by media. “Early next year we should start seeing 5G-related orders for smartphones.”
The growing demand comes despite the US continuing to push Huawei out of its market and pressures its allies to follow suit. Washington has already blacklisted the company, but European states are still divided on the matter, with many refusing to single out any supplier when it comes to the launch of 5G.
US restrictions on Huawei, one of the Japanese supplier’s major clients, could have resulted in losses for Taiyo Yuden. However, the capacitor managed to post gains, with the price of its shares more than doubling since the beginning of the year. This could be partly because its other key customer, Samsung, has also presented its 5G smartphones this year, while US tech giant Apple is getting ready to enter the race in 2020.
Huawei has been considered a leader in the development of the super-fast networks. In September, the Shenzhen-based company announced it had already signed 50 commercial 5G contracts globally and shipped 200,000 5G modules, while some European operators continue choosing Huawei as a key supplier for the rollout of 5G networks in their countries.
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