(Yicai Global) May 24 -- The creator and head of HarmonyOS, Huawei Technologies’ self-developed operating system, is reported to have departed the Chinese telecoms giant to join a firm in the operating system’s ecological chain in order to broaden its reach.

Wang Chenglu will join Kaihong Digital Industry Development, an internet of things system developer, after working at Huawei for 24 years, The Paper reported yesterday, citing a source. But neither Shenzhen-based Huawei nor Kaihong has confirmed the news yet.

HarmonyOS has been installed on over 220 million Huawei devices since its release in August 2019, the company’s consumer business group head Richard Yu has said, adding that shipments of devices that use its open ecosystem HarmonyOS Connect topped 100 million last year.

Wang became president of the consumer business group’s software engineering department in 2015 to oversee development of HarmonyOS. He became director of its artificial intelligence and all-scenario intelligence business unit last October, when software engineering was handed over to experienced Huawei technician Gong Ti.

Founded last August, Shenzhen-based Kaihong Digital develops smart IoT operating systems based on HarmonyOS in the finance, energy, transport, industry, and consumer fields, according to its website. Huawei owns 20 percent via its investment fund.

Editor: Futura Costaglione