Huawei offers US 5G deal

Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei is ready to licence his fifth-generation networking technology only to one other company — and he wants that potential arch-rival to be American.

The army officer-turned-billionaire has reiterated an offer to licence out Huawei’s full portfolio of 5G wireless technology — which would include chip designs, hardware and source code — to a single, exclusive licencee. That should be a US company because Europe is home to close competitors like Nokia and Ericsson and doesn’t need help to compete, he added.

Huawei, accused by President Trump’s administration of aiding Beijing in spying while spearheading China’s tech-superpower ambitions, is trying to claw back business and shore up trust in its products.

Mr Ren reaffirmed an earlier estimate that US sanctions could depress the company’s sales by $10bn (€9.1bn) annually. His lieutenants have lately echoed his 5G licensing proposal to reassure foreign customers Huawei’s gear is free of security loopholes. But a willing buyer has yet to emerge.

“We would like to offer an exclusive licence to one company from the West so that it’s able to achieve economies of scale to support a business,” Mr Ren said in a live-streamed discussion with visiting foreign academics. “With this one company, I think it should be a US company.”

Critics charge that intellectual property theft from the likes of Cisco Systems and Motorola helped Huawei vault into the upper echelons of telecommunications providers, while Mr Ren and his executives credit years of investment and research.

The wireless giant is now accelerating spending on artificial intelligence chips and mobile software. It’s mobilising its employees to source or develop alternatives to American circuitry and software to keep its edge in smartphones and next-generation 5G wireless technology.

Huawei is on track to produce 600,000 base stations this year and 1.5 million of those the next. The company can make it happen without American components but it would prefer buying from US suppliers, Mr Ren said.

The billionaire has gone from recluse to media maven in the span of months as he fights to save the $100bn (€91bn) company he founded. The 74-year-old billionaire has taken the lead in Huawei’s defence after the arrest of eldest daughter and chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou as part of a broader probe into the company.

- Bloomberg