(Yicai) March 10 -- Huawei Technologies has established a new medical and healthcare team to boost the Chinese tech giant's expansion in the artificial intelligence-powered healthcare sector, according to multiple sources.

The team will be led by Zhang Weili, president of Huawei's Distributed Cache Service domain, the sources told Yicai on March 8.

While internal documents lack specific details, Huawei aims to address technical and ecosystem integration challenges in deploying AI within the healthcare sector with this new team, an insider from the Shenzhen-based firm said to Yicai.

The healthcare industry has high potential, but forming the team does not mean Huawei intends to enter the medical field, the insider noted, adding that similar adjustments occur frequently within the company.

US tech firm Google introduced the model of establishing special teams, focusing on uniting scientists, technical experts, product engineers, sales specialists, and service professionals in fundamental research under one department.

Huawei can break down organizational barriers, rapidly pool resources, and boost efficiency through the new team. Since 2021, the company has established over 20 industry teams covering coal mining, ports, highways, smart photovoltaics, power digitalization, and other sectors.

Zhang works under Huawei's storage product line, the insider said. The healthcare team's technical foundation will derive from the firm's DCS expertise but will hike investments in healthcare from an industry perspective, the person added.

On Feb. 18, Ruijin Hospital, an affiliate of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and Huawei unveiled RuiPath, an AI pathology model expected to significantly improve diagnostic efficiency and accuracy.

The healthcare industry's high-quality data makes it a prime candidate for early AI adoption, Zhou Yuefeng, vice president of Huawei and president of the data storage product line, said during RuiPath's launch event.

However, RuiPatl is mainly based on Huawei's DCS AI solutions, and the company has not released any standalone healthcare-specific AI models.

Editor: Martin Kadiev