ZTE Chairman Fang Rong: The Doubao phone certification is progressing rapidly, and we hope for large-scale adoption.

On March 26, during the Boao Forum for Asia, Fang Rong, Chairman of ZTE Corporation, stated in an interview with The Paper that the Doubao AI phone, developed in collaboration with ByteDance, was globally launched in December last year.

Fang pointed out that in the era of artificial intelligence, technologies (including the Doubao phone) can enable people to do more things, rather than simply replacing human labor and reducing the scale of labor. This new paradigm also brings new requirements for existing rules, standards, and norms. The government is very supportive of such AI innovative applications, stating, “Whether it’s model certification or phone certification, things are progressing rapidly, and we hope everyone can widely use the Doubao phone.”

Fang also indicated that ZTE is continuing to advance related technological layouts, further upgrading system-level AI capabilities, integrating advanced agent technologies like OpenClaw, and launching their self-developed “Co-Claw,” which officially went live on the first working day after the Spring Festival. Not only is the company using human-machine collaboration to enhance a work environment coexisting with AI internally, but it is also promoting application implementation for both B-end and C-end, with a particular focus on data security.

“The integration of AI and traditional industries is not a simple technological overlay, but a redefinition of industrial rules. What we need to do is seize the high ground with an intelligent core, safeguard our foundation with digital sovereignty, and build a solid future with human-machine collaboration.” At the forum, Fang emphasized that in the age of AI, traditional cross-border collaboration has become outdated; the essence is dimensional empowerment.

Fang stated that ZTE does not position itself as “just another hardware manufacturer in the supply chain,” but aims to be at the core of the industry. For customers, what is lacking is not more devices, but a brain that can turn vague experiences into precise decisions. Therefore, the core of ZTE’s products is to deliver decision certainty. In terms of market positioning, ZTE has the most complex processes and the lowest fault tolerance. In fields where data dependence is strongest, the marginal effect of AI is the greatest, and it is also the moat that competitors find hardest to imitate.

Fang also pointed out at the forum, “Our consensus is that talent is an asset, not a cost. The competition in the AI era ultimately boils down to the competition of human-machine collaboration rates. We do not focus on how many people AI has replaced, but rather on how much value AI has amplified for people. This ‘human + AI’ organizational form is something that any low-cost labor region will find difficult to imitate in the short term. I believe this is our true, non-transferable industrial foundation and the ultimate barrier for future AI competition.”

Reporters: Shao Bingyan, Zhou Ling