Exclusive: Huawei’s U.S. research arm builds separate identity – Reuters
What happened: Huawei’s US-based research branch Futurewei Technologies Inc has been working on separating its operations from its Chinese corporate parent since the US government put Huawei on a trade blacklist. Futurewei has banned Huawei employees from its office and moved Futurewei employees to a separate IT system, as well as forbidden them from using the Huawei name or logo in communications. Futurewei has filed more than 2,100 patents in areas such as telecommunications, the fifth-generation wireless network, and video and camera technologies.
Why it’s important: When the US Department of Commerce in May put Huawei and 71 of its affiliates on its “entity list” to bar them from obtaining US technology without approval, Futurewei was not included. However, its ongoing partnerships with US universities may still be at risk. The University of California, Berkeley allows staff and students to work only with Futurewei employees who are US citizens or permanent residents and who agree in writing not to share certain sensitive information with Huawei. Stanford also paused new funding agreements from Futurewei but has continued working with the company under “existing arrangements,” the university’s Dean of Research Kathryn Moler told Reuters.