In a bold move with the growing trade ban between China and the US, Huawei CEO proposed the idea of the tech giant sharing their 5G technology. Ren Zhengfei, Huawei CEO made this announcement in an interview with the Economist at the company’s Shenzen offices.
He said that after buying the 5G tech(could run to tens of billions of dollars), the buyer preferably a Western company, would have access to Huawei’s existing 5G patents(they rank second after Samsung), licenses and code plus techincal blueprints and production know-how.
The buyer could tweak the source code. To assure the buyer, Huawei says neither them nor the Chinese government would have control over any infrastructure the company builds. Huawei would still keep its existing contracts and sell it sown 5G kits.
“A balanced distribution of interests is conducive to Huawei’s survival.”
Mr Ren hopes that this would create an equal rival to his company and dissipate the fears the West has over Huawei, a Chinese company that supplies the gear for most of the world’s new mobile-phone networks.
“A balanced distribution of interests is conducive to Huawei’s survival,” Mr Ren tells the Economist in the two-hour interview, “5G represents speed and countries that have speed will move forward rapidly. On the contrary, countries that give up speed and excellent connectivity technology may see an economic slowdown,” he adds.
Many American companies have been barred from selling components and software to the tech giant as America presses its allies to stop using Huawei equipment on the grounds that they pose a national security risk.
It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out and because of ego, it is highly unlikely that Ericsson and Nokia would be interested in this offer.
Analysts argue that even if China agrees to this sale, it would still be hard to ignore concerns about Chinese meddling.
When asked if this is a sign of desperation as pressure mounts on its consumer business front. Mr Ren says it’s not. He believes that through the sale of their 5G tech, it could drive them to make even better and newer tech.
Mr Ren isn’t afraid that if an American firm buys its tech and know-how would threaten their market dominance. It is through their low prices and faster shipping of products and their willingness to serve places Western firms are afraid of venturing into that make Huawei stand tall.
