- Fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibilities and Injecting Digital 
Intelligence into Sustainable Development

ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of 
telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile 
internet, today has released its 2021 sustainability report across the globe.

The report shows that ZTE, following the strategic positioning of "driver of 
the digital economy", proactively fulfilled its corporate social 
responsibilities in 2021. With the active implement of sustainable development 
in areas, such as operational governance, compliance management, talent 
development, innovation empowerment, openness and transparency, green 
development, and community contribution, the company creates shared value for 
stakeholders and society.

ZTE has annually released its sustainability reports for 14 consecutive years 
since 2009.

Keeping continuous independent innovation and industrial digital intelligence 
development, and fulfilling corporate social responsibilities

The uncertainties brought by the complex global situation, the lingering 
COVID-19 pandemic, population aging, and ecological degradation in 2021 are 
imposing greater challenges to sustainable development. In this process, 
digital and intelligent transformation based on new information technologies is 
playing an irreplaceable role, promoting the development of telecommuting, 
online collaboration, distance learning, telemedicine, smart factories, 
unmanned mining, and smart ports.

"Digital and intelligent transformation has equipped our society with the 
'immunity' to uncertainties, guaranteeing economic growth and sustainable 
development", said Xu Ziyang, President of ZTE Corporation. "As a major player 
and contributor dedicated to the ICT industry for 37 years, ZTE keeps making 
innovations and breakthroughs, and is always willing to embrace changes. In 
this way, the company continuously expands its capabilities and business in 
terms of digital and intelligent technologies, and brings about infinite 
possibilities for digital and intelligent applications."

According to the report, in order to follow the strategic positioning of 
"driver of the digital economy", ZTE always takes technological innovation as 
the top driving force of its development and adheres to building stronger core 
competence. The company has established several state-of-the-art global R&D 
centers. To further foster innovation, ZTE keeps investing in core areas such 
as 5G wireless technology, core networks, transport networks, access networks, 
and chipsets, with the R&D investment accounting for over 10% of the company's 
revenue for years.

By December 31, 2021, ZTE had filed more than 84,000 global patent 
applications, with over 42,000 granted, among which the number of chipset 
patent applications and granted chipset patents reached 4,572 and 1,990 
respectively. According to a report published in November 2021 by IPLytics, a 
leading patent data company, ZTE ranked fourth in the world in the number of 5G 
Standards-Essential Patents (SEP) declarations disclosed to the European 
Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI).

In the era of digital economy full of business uncertainties, ZTE is always 
committed to achieving high-quality growth together with the communications 
industry, verticals, and society by means of efficient collaboration in an open 
and transparent manner. By participating in the co-construction of a digital 
and intelligent ecosystem, ZTE strives to accelerate the digital and 
intelligent transformation of the whole society.

By engaging deeper into verticals, ZTE provides scenario-based solutions that 
truly create value for verticals through modular components. The company has 
established partnerships with over 500 global partners, with whom we have 
explored nearly 100 innovative 5G application scenarios for factories in 
Thailand, ports in Belgium, farms in Austria, as well as industry, 
transportation, power, environmental protection, and many other verticals in 
China.

Reinforcing internal management and pursuing high-quality growth

The year 2021 was crucial for the growth phase defined in ZTE's three-phase 
strategy. ZTE adhered to technological leadership and achieved high-quality 
growth, laying a solid foundation for its steady stride into the expansion 
phase and toward its goal of becoming a world's top 500 company.

Xie Junshi, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at ZTE, said, 
"Under these circumstances, ZTE has maintained stable operations, as we are 
committed to high-quality sustainable growth. We make continuous efforts to 
consolidate our three cornerstones, namely, compliance, internal control, and 
talent."

Upholding compliance and integrity in operations, ZTE has incorporated 
compliance requirements into the company's business processes, thereby building 
a best-in-class compliance management system that is aligned with the company's 
business practices. In this way, the company strives to achieve sustainable 
development together with its customers, suppliers, and other business partners 
around the world.

As for internal control and corporate governance, by using digital tools, ZTE 
has established a relatively complete system for risk management and internal 
control, and constantly improved the Business Continuity Management (BCM) 
system. With these efforts, the company has effectively enhanced operational 
continuity, improved turnover efficiency, and reduced operational risks.

Regarding talent development, ZTE keeps attracting and motivating core talent. 
For example, since its launch in 2014, the Blue Sword Program has been 
cultivating future leaders for the company, as evidenced by the first trainees 
who have been playing leading roles in the company. In 2021, ZTE stepped up 
efforts in campus recruitment, offering over 6,000 positions in fields like 
R&D, marketing, operation support, and supply chain to excellent graduates 
worldwide.

Securing customers' trust with openness and transparency and creating a win-win 
cooperation ecology

ZTE is committed to providing customers with secure and trustworthy products 
and services, and ensuring the security of communications network equipment, to 
promote digital transformation.

In 2021, ZTE obtained the certification of ISO 9001, TL 9000, QC 080000, ESD, 
ISO 45001, ISO 14001, and ISO 22301 management systems, covering the company's 
major R&D centers and manufacturing bases and 62 main product categories. In 
the same year, ZTE shortened its Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) by 29.5% compared 
with that in 2020. Moreover, the company offered remote customer support and 
spare parts services in 65 countries, with the customer satisfaction rate 
exceeding 99%.

For win-win partnership, ZTE has updated the Supplier CSR Agreement and 
Supplier CSR Code of Conduct to guarantee the responsible and sustainable 
development of its partners across the value chain. In addition, ZTE has 
released the Conflict Minerals Report based on the due diligence and assessment 
of 255 suppliers. In the future, due diligence and assessment on conflict 
minerals will cover all of its suppliers.

Taking green development into practice and leading the digital way to carbon 
neutrality

Facing the challenges brought by low-carbon transformation, ZTE paves a green 
path to digital economy by promoting green operations, green supply chain, and 
green digital infrastructure, and empowering the green development of 
industries, thereby facilitating the sustainable development of operators and 
verticals. Working with its partners, ZTE continues to explore innovative and 
green 5G applications with over 60 exemplary projects delivered worldwide, with 
the goal to realize carbon peak carbon neutrality ahead of 2030 and before 
2060, respectively.

In 2021, ZTE started the company-level dual-carbon strategic project and 
completed the establishment and capability improvement of the dual-carbon 
strategic team, and more than 170 team members participated in the training in 
the ISO 14064 and Science-Based Targets initiative.

ZTE maintained CDP B rating for actions on climate change and supplier 
engagement. According to the data disclosed on CDP website, more than 40 
leading suppliers in ZTE's supply chain established decarbonization strategies.

As for office operations, ZTE has launched nine energy-saving projects in 
China, saving 21.56 million kWh of electricity annually. ZTE reduced the use of 
packaging materials by 689.1 tons through the design of packaging weight 
reduction.

By 2021, ZTE had established 140 recycling sites worldwide. In China, the 
company optimized 4 centralized waste recycling and processing platforms and 
conducted in-depth cooperation with more than 10 leading environmental 
protection institutions in the industry, reaching the overall recycling rate of 
97%. Through long-term in-depth cooperation with more than 150 environmental 
protection institutions overseas, ZTE ensured that the recycling business met 
the local environmental protection requirements of different countries, and 
achieved the overall recycling rate of 98%.

ZTE's PowerMaster hybrid power solution won the award of 2021 Technological 
Innovation Solution for Carbon Peak and Neutrality and High-Quality Development 
by China Energy News.

Adhering to tech for social good, and actively contributing to global 
communities

While pursuing business development, ZTE also takes an active part in public 
welfare activities. Centering on recipients and their real needs, ZTE focuses 
on educational development, medical assistance, vulnerable population 
assistance, rural vitalization, and environmental protection, and ensures that 
all public welfare projects effectively respond to recipients' needs and 
achieve expected social benefits. ZTE constantly fulfills its CSR through 
donations and technological empowerment.

In 2021, ZTE Foundation donated CNY 13.17 million and organized 220 public 
welfare activities, benefiting a total of 12,000 people, and also launched a 
brand-new volunteer service system called "ZTE Volunteer" and set up 15 
volunteer branches worldwide with over 5,600 volunteers by far, representing a 
year-on-year growth of 76% in terms of the number of volunteers.

In the future, ZTE will continuously conduct digital operations, build a 
resilient organization, and contribute to the implementation of the dual-carbon 
strategy for sustainable growth. As a faithful driver of the digital economy, 
the company is committed to fulfilling its CSRs and working with employees and 
partners for win-win success in harmony with the environment, to build a 
promising future and explore more opportunities amid the rising tide of 
digitalization.

For the full version of ZTE 2021 Sustainability Report, please download via the 
link below.

https://res-www.zte.com.cn/mediares/zte/Files/PDF/white_book/2021_ZTE_EN.pdf

Media Contacts:
Margaret Ma                                                       
ZTE Corporation                                                 
Tel: +86 755 26775189                                      
Email: ma.gaili@zte.com.cn 

Source:ZTE Corporation

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