An eight-part series looking at how Huawei features in the US-China rivalry over technology and trade, canvassing its shareholding structure, record on cybersecurity, early embrace of emerging markets, what it is like to work for China's technology champion, the practicality of removing Huawei from telecom backbones, and a profile of founder Ren Zhengfei, in his own words.
Over the past two years the relationship between Chinese tech champion Huawei and the US has only worsened but why did the relationship sour in the first place?
Huawei’s staff shareholding structure turns its eligible employees into stakeholders, engendering the kind of kinship and shared responsibility that contribute to its ‘wolf culture’.
Burnishing its cybersecurity credentials has become more crucial for Huawei in Europe, which represents the company’s biggest overseas market and home of its major 5G mobile network equipment rivals Ericsson and Nokia.
Huawei made its mark in emerging markets long before China’s Belt and Road Initiative even got its name.
Ren Zhengfei has been described as the ‘spiritual leader’ of Huawei, but he says he would rather be forgotten.
We ask four employees what attracted them to the company and what keeps them working there after it was put on a trade blacklist by the US.
The rural carrier market was one of Huawei’s few successes in the US but a new law, driven by Washington’s national security concerns, means telcos will have to rip out Huawei gear or lose government subsidies.
The urgent challenge for Huawei is how it continues to navigate the US decision to add it to a trade blacklist last year — which has meant re-engineering its supply chains.