As US-led sanctions take a toll, Huawei is increasingly shifting its focus to the cloud to help secure its future.
Huawei is one of the main network equipment providers worldwide, competing with Nokia and Ericsson. In addition, it is one of the top smartphone makers. Despite its success, it has been under increasing pressure from the US over security concerns.
While all Chinese companies must comply with the Chinese government, Huawei is largely seen as having unusually strong ties to the Chinese intelligence and military community. As a result, US officials have been adamant in their accusations that Huawei represents a threat to the national security of any country allowing the company’s equipment on their networks. This has led the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK to institute bans of the beleaguered company.
The US has also modified its Entity List and Foreign Direct Product Rule to exclude Huawei from accessing products based on US technology, even if those products are manufactured by non-US companies. This effectively cut Huawei off from TSMC, one of its biggest chip suppliers, causing Huawei to admit it will likely have to stop making its own chips as a result.
According to the Financial Times, Huawei is now shifting its focus to its cloud business in an effort to stabilize and ensure its future survival. Recognizing the growing importance of its cloud unit, Huawei elevated it to equal footing with its telecoms and smartphones units back in January. The company still has much ground to cover before it catches up with rivals Tencent and Alibaba, but FT reports the Chinese government is planning to give Huawei more public cloud contracts to help it stabilize.