Chinese manufacturing giant, Huawei, is still at loggerheads with the US over security issues. The US is making sure that it frustrates the operation of Huawei globally. Nevertheless, Huawei is subtly fighting back by ignoring US equipment. As of now, Huawei’s flagships and 5G equipment no longer use US components. According to a recent interview with Canadian “Global Post” Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, said that the company is making Canada a focal point.
According to Ren Zhengfei, Huawei plans to transfer its R&D center from the US to Canada. In addition, it will also have some “Made in Canada” mobile network equipment. Previously, Huawei’s director and dean of the Strategic Research Institute, Xu Wenwei, revealed that Huawei currently has more than 80,000 R&D personnel worldwide. In 2018, Huawei invested more than $15 billion in R&D.
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According to a recent report, Huawei’s 5G network equipment also abandons components from the US. Huawei is the largest global supplier of such technologies, with a 28% market share. As operators spend a lot of money to build their new 5G network, Huawei has been producing 5G base stations without US components and software. John Suffolk, Huawei’s highest cybersecurity official, said recently: “All of our 5G is no longer dependent on the US. We hope to continue using US components, which is good for the American industry. It is good for Huawei, but we have no choice.”
However, Huawei cannot easily replace a US supplier, Google. Huawei can no longer license the Google Play services version of Android. This means that its newer phones won’t work with Google’s core Android apps like Play Store, Search, Gmail, Maps, etc.