In 1985, when ZTE was first founded, the Chinese communications market was dominated by foreign communications companies. Since 2000, the international telecommunications industry has suffered an unprecedented recession, with many companies experiencing a decline in business and weakened R&D. "It was by taking advantage of such an opportunity that we caught up." Hou Weigui said. For ZTE, the domestic market is far from its goal. In Hou Weigui's view, internationalization will become the main growth point for the company's future performance development. In 2005, ZTE's revenue from foreign markets accounted for 35.1% of its total revenue. However, ZTE has not made even efforts in selecting foreign markets. According to Hou Weigui, ZTE’s resource investment and strategic deployment in foreign markets basically meet the “28/20 rule”, that is to say, 80% of the investment is in developing countries and 20% in developed countries. Developed countries are still in the period of heavy investment. In the stage of low income, as orders from developed countries increase, investment in developed countries will also increase.
At present, ZTE’s overseas market focus is still on developing countries such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa, while the markets of developed countries such as Europe and the United States are the key breakthrough points this year. Hou Weigui said that since ZTE has just entered the European and American markets, the relationship between traditional suppliers and operators is relatively strong, so even if it offers a relatively low price, it is still difficult to enter this market immediately; for developing countries, the cost is more Pay attention, ZTE's cost advantage is more obvious.
Hou Weigui pointed out that, on the whole, ZTE’s average quotation for orders in the international market is about 10% lower than that of large European and American companies. Due to the rapid changes in competitive conditions, some orders, even if the profits are low, are still out of market demand. Strategic considerations must also be made. Although ZTE already owns more than 4,000 patents, Hou Weigui admitted that there is no gap between ZTE and foreign companies in terms of application products, but there is still a certain gap in core patents. In Hou Weigui’s view: “We may need another 5 to 10 years to work hard to accumulate and seize the opportunity, and it is possible to be on an equal footing with foreign companies in some core patents.” “Foreign companies such as Ericsson have occupied more than 100% of the market share in the 2G era. It is more difficult for us to squeeze into 90% of the market, but 3G is different. Everyone is starting from the same starting point, especially domestic standards, such as TD-SCDMA, so we definitely have a higher market share in 3G than in the 2G era. "Relatively large growth." According to Hou Weigui, ZTE has invested and prepared for the three standard formats of 3G for a long time, ranging from seven to eight years at most and three years at the shortest. However, ZTE still remains calm enough about the upcoming 3G business opportunities.
Hou Weigui believes that due to the influence of factors such as the licensing time, sequence and number of licenses, it is difficult to say whether 3G can bring hundreds of billions or trillions of investments as people imagine. Although 3G can bring significant market growth, the contribution rate of this growth may not be as large as imagined five or six years ago. In 2004, ZTE Engineering College was established in cooperation with Nanchang University.
In 2005, ZTE Software Technology (Nanchang) Co., Ltd. was established in cooperation with Nanchang University.
In 2010, according to the university alumni donation list, Hou Weigui donated 20 million to his alma mater, Nanchang University.