Huawei Technologies Co Ltd will focus on using artificial intelligence to boost its core networking gear business while stepping up efforts to recruit AI talents from the United States, its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said.

"We will not work on public AI products and small applications. Instead, our AI research and development will revolve around the core networking business," he said in a recent speech on Huawei's AI efforts.

The remark was Huawei's first public announcement of its strategy in the booming AI industry, which Apple Inc and domestic players Baidu Inc and Xiaomi Corp are all pouring money into, in the hope of establishing a beachhead.