Huawei CEO ready to transfer 5G tech

Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Wednesday expressed readiness to transfer its entire 5G technology to global partners, as the company faces pushback in various countries over its suspected ties to the Chinese government.

Emphasizing the importance of open trade policies, CEO Ren Zhengfei said, “We are open to transferring all of our 5G technologies, not just licensing production to others. This will include source programs and source code to all the hardware design secrets as well as the know-how and the chip design.”

“Everyone needs this (5G). As humanity keeps making progress, no company can develop a globalized industry alone. It requires concerted efforts around the world,” the company’s founder added.

Founded in 1987, Huawei is the leading global supplier of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.

The company has also been at the forefront of 5G technology with 3,147 standard essential patents (SEP) on 5G, out of which more than 2,000 were granted, according to IPlytics, a German patent data tracking company. As of February 2020, they accounted for 15% of total global 5G patents, ahead of the likes of Samsung, ZTE, LG, Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm.

Huawei’s decision to transfer 5G technology stems from the escalating backlash in the US and the UK. Though its equipment has been in use in these countries for decades, Washington had time and again expressed its discomfort over the presence of Chinese equipment in critical telecom services in the US.