ABB partners with Huawei for industrial cloud in China

BB will be offering ABB Ability™ digital solutions to its Chinese customers via the Huawei Cloud infrastructure. This was announced at Huawei Connect 2019 in Shanghai, China, the annual flagship event of Huawei for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, where ABB also showcased several ABB Ability™ solutions based on the Huawei Cloud.

For Chinese customers, ABB combines its leading industrial solutions and domain know-how with Huawei’s strong capability in cloud infrastructure and platform services. The two companies will collaborate and co-innovate, leveraging technologies of cloud, artificial intelligence, internet of things and industrial expertise to unlock the potential of the digital transformation of industries and ultimately benefit Chinese customers.

After a thorough analysis of different options in China, ABB chose Huawei Cloud due to its technology expertise, strong enterprise customer base within the public sector and its high compliance and cybersecurity standards. Huawei Cloud provides our customers in China with additional deployment options for particular ABB Ability™ solutions.

Apart from the cloud, ABB is also collaborating with Huawei on artificial intelligence (AI). During the customer event, an ABB manufactured robot using vision and AI deep learning (based on a Huawei AI Accelerator Module) demonstrated waste separation.

“This collaboration enables us to further grow ABB’s industrial digital solutions in the Chinese market, which represents our second largest customer base”, said Guido Jouret, Chief Digital Officer of ABB. “ABB is addressing the demand for digital transformation happening in all our customers’ segments, and increasing convenience for its customers in China.”

ABB has already a strong digital solution offering within the industry through its offering ABB Ability™. It was launched in 2017 and offers more than 220 digital solutions worldwide to plan, build and operate industrial operations with higher productivity and safety at lower costs.

“Through our partnership with the industrial leader ABB and combining ABB Ability™ and Huawei Cloud’s full-stack cloud platform, we will be able to jointly fulfil the various needs of industrial customers from many segments in China,” said Zheng Yelai, President of Huawei’s Cloud Business Unit.

Huawei Cloud provides cloud infrastructure services to support an environment in which an intelligent world can grow. According to a recent cloud market report from the consulting agency IDC, Huawei cloud revenue growth more than tripled in the first quarter of 2019 – the fastest growth rate among China’s vendors.

ABB has a full range of business activities in China – its second largest market – including R&D, manufacturing, sales and services. It has 19,500 employees located in 131 cities and at 44 local companies. In China, ABB has continuously improved its local R&D capabilities through investment and footprint optimization, with about 2,000 professionals dedicated to local innovation, with the ABB Ability™ business more than doubling in 2018.

In November 2018, ABB opened a major innovation and manufacturing hub in Xiamen, China, representing a US$300 million investment. In October 2018, the company announced a US$150 million investment in a new robotics “factory of the future” in Shanghai and in May 2018, it inaugurated a new Robotics Application Center in Chongqing, the company’s fourth such site in China. ABB has invested more than US$2.4 billion in China since 1992.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a technology leader that is driving the digital transformation of industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB has four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by the ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB’s Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com

Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – it is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei has more than 188,000 employees and operates in more than 170 countries and regions. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees. Please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com. For more information about Huawei Cloud, please visit online at www.huaweicloud.com