Huawei is an independent company, owned by our employees and not the Chinese government, writes Joy Tan, senior vice president of Huawei USA.
As the global leader in 5G technology, Huawei is 12 to 18 months ahead of our competitors. As of today, Huawei has won 30 5G commercial contracts with more than 40,000 base stations deployed across the world.
Huawei’s secure and affordable technology bridges the digital divide. Here in America, many smaller telecom carriers use Huawei gear to deliver connectivity to underserved communities. The advent of 5G will be critical to the development of advanced technologies, like autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and smart cities. Blocking an industry leader like Huawei would hurt those providers, weaken competition, slow innovation and threaten job growth.
Politicizing cybersecurity is a losing proposition. Without Huawei, consumers would pay more for lower quality services and technology.
Huawei is driving innovation. Last year, we invested $15 billion in research and development. According to the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization, the company is a top global patent holder with 87,805 patents (11,152 of those in the United States). We will continue this commitment to R&D, pledging more than $100billion over the next five years.
This commitment is resulting in critically acclaimed products like the Mate X, a foldable smartphone, and the equipment that drives high-speed communications like 5G. Huawei purchases more than $10 billion in parts and components in the USA annually.
Huawei is an independent company, owned by our employees and not the Chinese government. We work hard to set the standard for cybersecurity assurance. We believe that rigorous testing of products regardless of vendor will create greater transparency. And we are committed to helping organizations and governments create objective frameworks for determining which products are trustworthy.
As always, Huawei is deeply committed to making the world a better connected and safer place through technological innovations.
Joy Tan is senior vice president of Huawei USA.