At a press conference, Huawei announced that it has plans to make an investment of 200 million euros for the construction of a factory in which it will be dedicated to producing 4G and 5G network equipment in France.
Once completed, It will be Huawei's largest factory outside of China. In fact, outside of China, Huawei has so far only one production plant in India where smartphones are designed. In other parts of the world, these are assembly sites.
And it is that since the constant pressure that the United States has made to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks. France and Britain have so far refused to be swayed. In Germany, where the issue is divided within the German government, Chancellor Angela Merkel asked to wait for the European summit next March to make a decision on whether or not to use Huawei, according to several sources.
While in Britain, the Boris Johnson government has announced that it will allow Huawei to play a limited role in the rollout of 5G.
5G technology is expected to bring a huge leap in speed and communications capabilities and an exponential increase in connections between billions of devices, from smart refrigerators to self-driving cars.
The President of Huawei, Liang Hua, at a press conference I mentioned that Huawei's activities were global and that the group owed it to the title of having a global industrial footprint.
“The site will provide benefits to all of Europe, not just France. The site will start to manufacture radio equipment and then convert to other products in the future, depending on the needs of the European market »
It did not specify where the factory would be located, which will produce around XNUMX billion euros of equipment per year, or when will production start.
Liang said the company is in talks with the French government and local authorities about the project.
“With this plant, Huawei says it will be able to cover every link along its value chain and drive local industries forward, both up and down.
These links include R&D, sales, purchasing, production, logistics, service, and talent development. The plant will also be one of Huawei's first implementations of its advanced manufacturing technologies in Europe. This will boost the technical competitiveness of European industry and increase the resilience of local supply chains and infrastructure. '
It is estimated that this project will directly generate 500 jobs. Huawei has operated in Europe for 20 years, directly employing more than 12,000 employees.
As a result, Huawei has directly and indirectly created approximately 170,000 jobs in Europe. Going forward, Huawei is committed to operating 'in Europe, for Europe', remaining open and collaborative, and continuing to contribute to Europe.
The French government should, for its part, grant its first authorizations by the end of the month to requests for equipment made by operators who have a choice between the Chinese group and European suppliers Nokia and Ericsson.
Finally Huawei said the plant will also have a demonstration center, "Showing the wireless base station production, software loading and testing process" and the company said it will "be open to operators, governments and related authorities, demonstrating Huawei's positive stance on Europe's call for sovereignty digital ”.
The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, without citing Huawei, has repeatedly warned about security risks raised by certain equipment manufacturers.
The United States maintains that Huawei is too close to the Chinese government and that its equipment could be used as a spy tool, a claim the company has denied.
As Huawei continues to struggle with increased pressure from the US, this announcement shows the time the company is willing to spend to address the concerns.