Huawei goes on a road-trip

Networking vendor Huawei’s quest for global domination shows no sign of slowing in the run up to Christmas, with raids on Dublin and Cairo.

There’s nothing Huawei likes more than photos of people in business attire, symbolically shaking hands or signing important-looking pieces of paper. Visits to Trinity College, Dublin and the Cairo ICT conference afforded rich pickings for the company photographer.

A new research partnership with Trinity is, we’re told, emblematic of Huawei’s growing R&D footprint in Ireland. Rotating CEO Guo Ping and Patrick Prendergast – Provost of Trinity – can be seen below holding up bits of paper in time-honoured fashion. Apparently Huawei is dropping $21 million on R&D in Ireland this year.

“Huawei’s continued investment in Ireland illustrates the innovative technology ecosystem we have developed, with more and more major international tech firms basing and growing their operations here,” said Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (pictured below, with Guo Ping). “The company’s new research partnership with Trinity and its expanding R&D footprint across its Dublin, Cork and Athlone operations are a strong endorsement of Ireland’s tech credentials and illustrates Huawei’s ongoing commitment to its Irish operations. Bilateral trade between Ireland and China is now worth over €12 billion each year, and by strengthening our links with companies like Huawei we can increase this further in the years ahead.”

Meanwhile Huawei launched the Cairo OpenLab in… Cairo, during the Cairo ICT 2017 conference, also, conveniently, in Cairo. It managed to get a bunch of dudes to take a commemorative photo of the occasion, which you can see at the top of this piece.

“We established the OpenLab in Cairo so that we can make full use of the advantages of Egypt and serve all of Northern Africa,” said Ni Zheng, President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, Northern Africa Region. “First, the ICT industry market in Cairo is relatively mature and its marketing capabilities influence surrounding countries.

“Second, Egypt recognizes the significance of industrial digital transformation, and the local industry chain ecosystem supports this transition for a number of industry enterprises. In addition, the education industry in Egypt is relatively well developed, with more than half of the top 15 African universities of UK QS Ranking located in Egypt, also contributing to the advancement of the region.”

Lastly, back in China, Huawei Wireless X Labs was instrumental in the creation of a Wireless Connected Factory Special Interest Group (SIG). This is actually the third SIG this bit of Huawei has got involved in, and looks set to be a cracker, with half of the company apparently involved in the inevitable photo (below).

“The mission of exploring future wireless use cases lies with X Labs,” said Ying Weimin, Huawei Wireless R&D President. “Huawei hopes that SIGs such as those set up by X Labs can discover and inspire many more 5G use cases and promote 5G technologies’ application in future smart manufacturing. Such efforts will contribute to the rise of connected factories. Huawei will work diligently alongside its partners to simulate further growth and innovation.”