Huawei(华为)
Fast facts
- Year Founded
- 1987
Source: Huawei Websitewww.huawei.com/cn/corporate-information
- HQ Location
- Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
- Publicly Traded?
- No
Huawei is a private company wholly owned by its employees. No government agency or outside organization holds shares in Huawei.Source: Huawei 2020 Annual Reportwww-file.huawei.com/minisite/media/annual_report/annual_report_2020_en.pdf
- Overseas Operations
- Yes
Around 65.6% of Huawei's business operations are conducted in China. According to Huawei's 2020 financial report, the company receives 12.2% of its revenue from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, 8.7% from the Asia Pacific, and 39.6% from the Americas. Compared with the previous year, the regions have a decreasing international presence of 12.2%, 8.7%, and 24.5%, respectively. Huawei has faced difficulties in recent years in its expansion in Western markets, especially the US, due to concerns that its infrastructure equipment may allow the Chinese government to conduct surveillance. These allegations were heightened in 2018 as the US banned government agencies from using Huawei technology, while Ren's daughter and company CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada and charged by American prosecutors for violating sanctions against Iran. Huawei pulled out of the US consumer market in 2018. While Huawei's 5G network technology is industry-leading, the Western governments, such as the European countries, are now weighing the pros and cons of working with the company due to its alleged deep ties to the Chinese state. In July 2020, the UK announced that it would strip Huawei out of Britain's 5G phone networks by 2027. France, Italy, Sweden, and Germany quickly followed suit to regulate Huawei. Source: 1. Huawei Financial Report (2020) 2. Reuters 3. Guardian
- US Sanctions
- Yes
Source: CNET (a timeline of sanctions)www.cnet.com/news/huawei-ban-full-timeline-us-sanctions-china-trump-biden-5g-phones/
- Military Affiliation in China
- Yes
Huawei has no official ties with the military, but several foreign observers have questioned the firm's transparency. For example, in June 2019, Bloomberg reported Huawei researchers teamed up with the PLA on 10 research endeavors spanning artificial intelligence to radio communication. Ren Zhengfei, the company's founder, previously served as a deputy in the People's Liberation Army.Source: Bloombergwww.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-27/huawei-personnel-worked-with-china-military-on-research-projectsSource: Wangyi Newstech.163.com/10/0127/09/5U19ULS7000915BE.html
Revenue
Source: Huawei 2020 Annual Reportwww-file.huawei.com/minisite/media/annual_report/annual_report_2020_en.pdf
Valuation
2021 valuation was reported in RMB and was converted to dollars using the exchange rate from March 23, 2021.Source: Shu Yun Hurun China Top 100 Most Valuable Consumer Goods Companieswww.hurun.net/zh-CN/Info/Detail
Employees
Source: Huawei 2020 Annual Reportwww-file.huawei.com/minisite/media/annual_report/annual_report_2020_en.pdf
Founded in 1987 by former PLA engineer Ren Zhengfei, Huawei is now a world-leading telecommunications powerhouse with almost 200,000 employees globally. Almost 80,000 of these employees are engaged in R&D at 21 R&D centers around the world, with the company’s R&D investment in 2018 exceeding RMB 100.0 B (USD 14.3 B), an increase of 13.2% YoY.
Huawei’s ownership structure is shrouded in secrecy. Nominally, the company is 100% owned by Huawei Investment and Holding, a holding company, which is in turn 99% owned by Huawei’s labor union and 1% owned by founder Ren Zhengfei. However, many doubts remain regarding the nature and extent of the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Huawei explains its ownership like this: "Huawei is a private company wholly owned by its employees. Through the Union of Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd., we implement an Employee Shareholding Scheme involving 121,269 employees. Only Huawei employees are eligible to participate. No government agency or outside organization holds shares in Huawei."
Source: Huawei Websitewww.huawei.com/en/facts/question-answer/who-owns-huawei
-
- Name
- Ownership
-
- Shenzhen Huawei Investment & Holding
Source: Tianyanchawww.tianyancha.com/company/24416401
- 100%
- Shenzhen Huawei Investment & Holding
- Liang Hua (梁华), Chairman
- Guo Ping (郭平), Deputy Chair
- Xu Zhijun (徐直军), Deputy Chair
- Hu Houkun (胡厚崑), Deputy Chair
- Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟), Deputy Chair
- Ding Yun (丁耘), Executive Director
- Xu Chengdong (余承东), Executive Director
- Wang Tao (汪涛), Executive Director
- Ren Zhengfei (任正非), Founder & Director
- Xu Wenwei (徐文伟), Director
- Chen Lifang (陈黎芳), Director
- Peng Zhongyang (彭中阳), Director
- He Tingbo (何庭波), Director
- Li Yingtao (李英涛), Director
- Yao Fuhai (姚福海), Director
- Tao Jingwen (陶景文), Director
- Yan Lida (阎力大), Director
- Li Jianguo (李建国), Alternate Director
- Peng Bo (彭博), Alternate Director.
Source: Huawei 2020 Annual Reportwww-file.huawei.com/minisite/media/annual_report/annual_report_2020_en.pdf
Around 65.6% of Huawei's business operations are conducted in China. According to Huawei's 2020 financial report, the company receives 12.2% of its revenue from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, 8.7% from the Asia Pacific, and 39.6% from the Americas. Compared with the previous year, the regions have a decreasing international presence of 12.2%, 8.7%, and 24.5%, respectively. Huawei has faced difficulties in recent years in its expansion in Western markets, especially the US, due to concerns that its infrastructure equipment may allow the Chinese government to conduct surveillance. These allegations were heightened in 2018 as the US banned government agencies from using Huawei technology, while Ren's daughter and company CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada and charged by American prosecutors for violating sanctions against Iran. Huawei pulled out of the US consumer market in 2018. While Huawei's 5G network technology is industry-leading, the Western governments, such as the European countries, are now weighing the pros and cons of working with the company due to its alleged deep ties to the Chinese state. In July 2020, the UK announced that it would strip Huawei out of Britain's 5G phone networks by 2027. France, Italy, Sweden, and Germany quickly followed suit to regulate Huawei.
Huawei Sanctions
While at this time it appears that this company is not the subject of any U.S. or other global sanctions, it is important to note that Chinese companies tend to have more opaque organizational structures than their Western peers. Chinese companies' affiliated brands, operating units, and overseas subsidiaries are not always obvious or even identifiable. Given this, a Chinese company may not be the subject of sanctions, but one of its subsidiaries may be, thus making it difficult to accurately ascertain a company's full sanctions status.
On June 18, 2021, the FCC voted unanimously to advance a proposal to ban approvals for equipment from Huawei in US telecom companies. In May 2019, the Trump Administration added Huawei to the Commerce Department's 'entity list,' a major blow to the firm's US operations. That designation prohibits American companies from doing business with firms that pose a risk to US national security interests. Since then, the US has added 152 Huawei affiliates to the list.
Huawei Reputational Disclosures
Huawei has been blacklisted in several countries for allegedly enabling Chinese surveillance. While those concerns are widely shared, to date, allegations against the firm focus on potential, as opposed to actual, surveillance abuses.
Huawei has been implicated in the surveillance and mass detention of the Uyghur ethnic minority. In 2019, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank with funding from the US Department of State, published a report claiming that Huawei has provided “extensive” support to the CCP’s surveillance regime in Xinjiang. The company has frequently denied that it is directly involved in those efforts.
In 2018, CFO Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Canada and charged by American prosecutors for allegedly violating sanctions against Iran.
Source: U.S. Department of Commercewww.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/regulations-docs/2326-supplement-no-4-to-part-744-entity-list-4/file