Huawei Eyes Canada To Reestablish Presence In North America

Huawei’s losses in the United States are still growing as the U.S. government is far from backing down on the Entity List ban. Other than the U.S., Canada looks like a better choice for Huawei’s presence in North America. Unless the ban is lifted, the U.S. neighbor is Huawei’s only chance at staying in the region.

Huawei is looking to transfer its telecommunications research facilities in Canada from the United States, according to a report from Yahoo News. Canada has yet to bar Huawei’s business in the country which could be beneficial in its North America presence. However, the country has also yet to make a decision on purchasing any of Huawei’s technology for any use.

Currently, Huawei still has the Futurewei research firm in the U.S. and is mostly keeping some skeleton crew in the company after laying off many workers. The Entity List ban for Huawei affected many of the company’s moves in the country. Transferring Futurewei in Canada could jumpstart its activities once more.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei confirmed that it’s interested in transferring its assets to Canada soon. Currently, the company is increasing its workers in the country and currently holds 1,200 staff in the country. Even Huawei’s director of business plans for the U.S. is already stationed in Ottawa. Even though the move seems highly likely, the company has yet to fully confirm dates and the decision to move everything into Canada.

While Huawei already has plans in reestablishing its presence in North America again, the U.S. government has always been following their moves in any country. In every country that Huawei is planning to strike a deal, the U.S. government often tries to enforce the reasons of its ban to the other countries. The U.S. government warns other countries of potential security risks with Huawei’s technology albeit the Chinese company said that it doesn’t have any of the aforementioned spying technology.

For now, Huawei’s move into Canada is its best option to stay in North America for as long as the Entity List ban is still in effect.