Chinese enterprise software company Yonyou Network Technology has appointed Huang Chenhong, former global executive vice president at German competitor SAP, as its new president. This move comes as China’s tech sector attracts talent from multinational firms reducing their presence in the country.
Beijing-based Yonyou, a leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and cloud services provider in China, said in a statement that Huang’s leadership would help the company “capture strategic opportunities in digital transformation, the rise of domestic technology solutions and the global expansion of Chinese enterprises”.
Huang, who had also served as president of SAP Greater China, left the German firm last October after the enterprise software giant announced plans to restructure its operations in the region. That entailed a merger of SAP’s Greater China business and Asia-Pacific and Japan unit to form a new Asia-Pacific regional operation from January 1 this year.
Yonyou’s appointment of Huang reflects a growing trend in China’s technology industry, where domestic companies recruit highly experienced executives from multinational firms to bolster their industry expertise.
Earlier this month, Hua Hong Semiconductor – China’s second-largest chip foundry – signed up ex-Intel global vice-president Bai Peng to a three-year contract as its new president, while Beijing Electronic Digital and Intelligence named former IBM Greater China chief technology officer Xie Dong in a similar role in the state-owned cloud computing firm.
Huang has also held prominent roles, including chairman and president of Dell Greater China, president for Greater China at APC by Schneider Electric, a leading manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies, and president at Tellabs China, a network technology firm. He earned his PhD in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University in the US, following his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fudan University in Shanghai.
He replaced Chen Qiangbing, who held the position of Yonyou president for less than a year after the company’s billionaire founder, Wang Wenjing, stepped down from that role in January 2024. Wang, who founded Yonyou in 1998, remains the company’s chairman.
Yonyou said in its statement that it is well-positioned to serve the increasing number of Chinese companies seeking domestic enterprise-management solutions. Its ERP software is used by organisations to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, compliance, and supply chain operations.
The company’s international operations support over 1,000 businesses worldwide, with 40 percent of them being Chinese enterprises. Its cloud computing services allow companies to manage and distribute various software and digital resources online on an on-demand basis, similar to how electricity is provided through a power grid. In 2023, Shanghai-listed Yonyou reported its first loss in 22 years, and as its losses grew in 2024, the company’s share price dropped by 35 percent.