2 min

Tags in this article

, , , ,

Huawei claims to have started making 5G-base stations that do not contain any American components. Next year, the total production of these base stations should more than doubled, as more countries will roll out the technology.

Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei states that the mass production of the 5G-base stations will start next month, writes Reuters. “We carried out the testing in August and September, and from October on we will start scale production,” Ren stated. In that month, 5,000 5G base stations without US components will have to be produced.

Next year’s annual production is expected to reach 1.5 million units. This year, the number is 600,000, including the base stations that are still made with American components.

According to Will Zhang, the president of corporate strategy at the Chinese manufacturer, the base stations without American components perform “no worse”. He also said that the company has had “positive surprises”, but did not mention any details.

Blacklist

Huawei has been on a US trade blacklist since last May. This means that American companies are not allowed to trade with the Chinese manufacturer. That is why Huawei now makes base stations without American components. After all, these components can no longer be purchased by Huawei.

The reason for this is that the US suspect that Huawei’s technology could be used for espionage by the Chinese government. The company has denied this allegation on several occasions, but Huawei is now also taking steps to minimize the impact of the accusations. For example, the company has released a new version of its smartphone, Mate 30, without Google apps.

Emotional ties

Ren says Huawei still wants to use American components if possible, because the company has “emotional ties” with some suppliers. Earlier this month, Ren said he was open to selling the company’s 5G technology to Western companies. These include patents, code, blueprints and general production knowledge.

Now, Ren has gone one step further by saying that Huawei wants to license 5G mobile technology to an American company. Furthermore, he states that he is not afraid to create new competitors by making the technology available to rival companies.