Huawei Technologies Co, the third-biggest smartphone maker, is preparing to enter the competitive world of digital assistants with its own voice-powered service, sources said.

A team of more than 100 engineers is in the early stages of developing the technology at its Shenzhen offices, one of the sources said.

The efforts are extensive and are aimed at Apple Inc's Siri, Amazon.com Inc's Alexa, and Alphabet Inc's Google Assistant, not smaller players, the source added.