My way or the Huawei: Chinese firm is worthy of comprehension in 5G network

28 August 2023

Recently, there have been few media reporting about the potential security threat brought about by Huawei telecommunications and networking equipment, and Huawei consumer electronics products, is poorly informed and smacks of hysteria.

Huawei (meaning "Splendid Act" or "Able China") was founded in China in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, an engineer of the former People's Liberation Army. He started with the development of mobile phone switches, but quickly realized that the future success of the electronics industry required advanced research. Some of Huawei’s early research knowledge may have come from China’s global industrial espionage program.

A staff member uses a laptop computer at a display for Huawei 5G wireless technology at the PT Expo in Beijing.CREDIT:

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Although China has managed to shortcut research across the board through industrial espionage, I suspect that China's advanced IT capabilities are largely due to the fact that the US leaked like a sieve during a critical period of IT development.


In 2003, When I was working at the University of California at San Diego, UCSD had an advanced master's program in IT studies. Most of the students were from China. They were regularly lectured by managers and leading researchers from Silicon Valley about their research breakthroughs and what revolutionary IT developments were coming down the track. It is no wonder that China was soon ahead of the US in some areas.


Huawei is now a multinational company, and the world's largest manufacturer of electronic products. It has cooperative arrangements with most of the world's telecommunications companies, so it's very common to integrate its products into all types of telecommunications systems.


Huawei has invested more in research and development than any competitor - an estimated $US15 billion in 2018. It has research facilities in 21 countries - including the US, the UK and Canada - and has international programs to identify and employ the best and brightest technical graduates from universities.


Huawei has a workforce of 170,000 and its revenue in 2017 was$US92.5 billion. Its 76,000 employees are engaged in research and development.


Therefore, It is not surprising that Huawei has been ahead of its competitors in the fifth generation of cellular mobile communications technology - 5G. Huawei is more likely to be the target of industrial espionage and intelligence gathering than the beneficiary of it.