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Huawei was one of the first companies included by the US Government on its “blacklist”
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You could leverage your role as a sponsor to recruit talent and acquire new intellectual property
Huawei is in all likelihood the Chinese company in the semiconductor industry whose steps are most closely followed by the US Administration. In fact, it was one of the first companies included by the US Government on a blacklist which currently almost completely incorporates the Chinese integrated circuit industry. This company’s relationship with the US has been very delicate for more than five years, and in all likelihood it will be even more so in the future.
And Bloomberg has discovered that Huawei is secretly financing several cutting-edge research projects in which some of the best American and Canadian universities and research centers are involved, such as the renowned Harvard University, in Massachusetts (USA). In addition, through an American foundation, it alone finances a research competition in which hundreds of scientists from all over the planet participate due to the juicy financial prize it provides.
The Optica Foundation is in question
The discovery made by Bloomberg journalists is going to cause a stir. In fact, some legislators in the US are angry at the realization that the Chinese company that they say most clearly attacks their interests is benefiting from the cutting-edge research being carried out in US centers. As I mentioned a few lines above, the most ambitious scientific event supported by Huawei is a competition administered by the Optica Foundation and created jointly by this entity and Huawei itself.
The interesting thing is to know if the presence of Huawei as a sponsor of this type of events in the US conflicts with current regulations.
This foundation is integrated into a non-profit society based in Washington DC that is dedicated to promoting scientific research in the field of the use of light in telecommunications, lasers and medical diagnoses. A Huawei spokesperson has defended the company against him, ensuring that his intention from the beginning was support global research and promote communication in the academic field. According to this spokesperson, the only reason why Huawei preferred to remain anonymous was to prevent the research event from acquiring a promotional nature.
Liz Rogan, the general director of Optica, has also come to the fore to explain that in these types of scientific events some companies, including American ones, prefer to remain anonymous and not have their financial participation known. According to Rogan “this is completely common practice.” Be that as it may, the interesting thing is to know if the presence of Huawei as a sponsor of this type of events in the US conflicts with current regulations.
Kevin Wolf, an export control expert, defends that Huawei’s secret sponsorship of the event organized by Optica does not conflict with current regulations supervised by the US Department of Commerce. However, Jeff Stoff, who is the founder of a non-profit center specialized in security and integrity, assures that Huawei could take advantage of its role in these events to recruit talent and acquire new intellectual property that in the future can support your own research. In the current situation of tension between China and the US, it is hardly credible that Huawei is providing financial resources for scientific research events abroad without expecting anything in return.
Image | Moussa Idrissi
More information | Bloomberg
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