Chinese tech giant Huawei has reportedly resigned much of its public relations and government teams in the United States and Canada, a sign that it may have given up on persuading Washington to soften its stance.
Huawei has been bearing the brunt of U.S. sanctions for five years, since former President Donald Trump blacklisted the company in 2019 over allegations that its telecommunications and IT equipment posed a threat to national security.
Huawei’s response was to strengthen its public and government relations efforts (Statside) to counter the hostile rhetoric from policymakers in the capital.
According to Nikkei Asia, Huawei has gradually dismantled its public relations and government teams in North America. Citing sources familiar with the matter, they say several employees were laid off recently, including some who had worked for the company for about a decade.
It appears that Huawei’s hopes of turning things around have faded and it has instead decided to focus on other markets, notably China, where the company remains a major force.
We asked Huawei to confirm the details, but it declined to comment.
According to Nikkei, Huawei hired veteran lobbyist Tony Podesta in 2021 as well as three lobbying firms to help fight trade and economic sanctions imposed by Washington. The team also worked to free Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng, who was arrested in Canada following an extradition request from US authorities.
Meng is now back in China and the proceedings against her are over. With little prospect of change in U.S. policy toward Huawei, the company appears to be cutting its losses.
Huawei is now betting on the growth of its data center infrastructure business this year, as The register detailed earlier this week, while continuing to find markets for its telecommunications equipment outside of Europe, notably in countries like Malaysia.
The company has also seen success at home with smartphones like the Mate 60 Pro, which made Huawei the fastest-growing smartphone maker in China in the third quarter of 2023, challenging the dominance of the iPhone Apple in the high-end segment.
The Mate 60 Pro caused a stir when it debuted last year because it used a supposedly in-house developed 7nm system-on-chip that few believed Chinese companies like Huawei were capable of producing. ®
