Given the amount of territories where Huawei is banned, one must ask: does the company still make some of the best smartphones around? And if not, what is it doing? And more importantly, with all of these bans: where is it doing it?
Well, let’s elaborate on that. For starters, Huawei isn’t banned in all European countries. Sure, the EU did issue a recommendation that most do that, but it wasn’t in any means obligatory. So that, in turn, leaves wiggle room for further partnerships between the Chinese giant and the EU.
In fact, Huawei is part of an EU grant, dedicated to financing the research required for the development of the next generation of communication systems. As such, Huawei has taken just about €4 million as a participant in the bloc’s program, as outlined in this report by the Financial Times.
So, basically Huawei is developing stuff for the EU, in the EU, while being banned from the EU. Wah-wah.
The weirdest part of it all is that despite the ban being precisely due to security concerns, Huawei is developing tech in the following areas:
- AI
- 6G
- Cloud computing
- Quantum Sensing
- Connectivity
- Framework for autonomous driving
It is as if the company has been banned from being a part of the currently active systems, but allowed to be a part of the creation of the ones that are going to be used by the EU in the future? We can’t say if that is the case for sure, but it does seem like it.
Some EU officials have been shocked that this hasn’t raised any red flags thus far, but at least Huawei is appreciating the collaboration. Whether it will last — and what fruits it will bear — is something that only the future may tell us, though.
