The founder of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies shrugged off U.S. sanctions against his company, saying he was confident that Huawei can survive further measures.

Speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ren said he expects that the U.S. might further escalate sanctions against Huawei, but the impact on Huawei’s business would not be significant.

Huawei was put on a U.S. blacklist last year based on national security concerns, barring it from sourcing U.S. technologies. Huawei has spent several hundred billion yuan (dozens of billions of U.S. dollars) on a technological “Plan B” strategy.

Huawei has equipped more of its smartphones with its self-developed processors as it strives to reduce its dependence on U.S. technology. Last year Huawei launched its own operating system, HarmonyOS. Ren said in September the proprietary operating system would be able to compete with top rival systems within two years.

Ren also reiterated Huawei’s “pro-U.S.” position. Most of Huawei’s management expertise was learned from the U.S., and the Chinese company hired dozens of American consultants, Ren said. “Actually, our whole system is very much like an American company,” he said.

The U.S. doesn’t need to worry about China on technology as China is still in the early stages of science and technology development, Ren said.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com)