Huawei's secretive dominance

This book offers a portrait of Huawei, the electronics giant from Mainland China.

- DEVANGSHU DATTA

This book offers a portrait of Huawei, the electronics giant from Mainland China. Author Eva Dou, a telecom reporter, has mined many data sources, including Huawei's internal publications, and stitched together all that is in the public domain.

But there is little here that wasn't in the public domain. Senior Huawei personnel, including the founder and his family, are media-shy and she didn't manage to reach them. But the aggregation is useful and even dedicated Huawei-watchers will find new nuggets.

Ms Dou has been cautious about addressing the myriad accusations the company has faced. She mentions the accusations in meticulous detail alongside Huawei's defences. But it is left to the reader to draw their own conclusions about the merits.

The name Huawei can translate to "China can do it" and was supposedly inspired by a Maoist slogan. Huawei is one of the world's most controversial entities. Its 2023 revenues were around $100 billion with reported profits of over $12 billion. It is an end-to-end supplier of telecom associated equipment and services. It makes smartphones; network equipment; designs and fabricates its own chips; makes and installs fibre optics cables and submarine cables; manages telecom networks, running services and writing the software. It also designs and runs the world's most sophisticated face-recognition software. Its "Safe City" surveillance networks literally blanket entire cities.

Huawei has faced serious accusations of various kinds. Among the minor peccadillos, it has routinely navigated bribery charges. It has been accused many times of stealing intellectual property. It has been accused of breaking sanctions in Iran, Iraq, Serbia, and other hotspots.