Huawei ramps up $2bn plan to address security worries as global pressure mounts
Huawei has ramped up its $2bn (£1.5bn) project to address British security concerns as pressure mounts on the Chinese firm over spying fears.
The tech giant will present its plan to resolve the problems by the end of the first half of this year and may fork out more than the $2bn originally set aside, a top Huawei executive said today.
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Speaking to reporters this morning Ryan Ding, Huawei carrier group chief executive, said the company has committed $500m to the first year of its plan.
Huawei has previously said the problems could take three to five years to resolve. Morning Wire understands the annual spend is not expected to fall, meaning the company could spend as much as $2.5bn in a bid to appease UK security forces.
Ding also said Huawei is accelerating its efforts, with a “global and comprehensive” plan expected to be put in place by the end of March.
“In the second quarter we will talk to all our stakeholders, including UK stakeholders, about such a plan and hopefully by the end of the first half of this year we will complete the high level design of such [a] plan,” he said, according to Reuters.
The comments came after British security officials said they had not yet seen a “credible” plan to address the problems.
Ciaran Martin, head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the UK is closely monitoring the firm, but insisted a final decision has not yet been reached.
“We also have strict controls for how Huawei is deployed. It is not in any sensitive networks – including those of the government,” he said. “Its kit is part of a balanced supply chain with other suppliers.”
Earlier today the US stepped up its attack on Huawei, warning it would not partner with countries that adopt the Chinese firm’s technology.
“If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we won’t be able to share information with them, we won’t be able to work alongside them,” secretary of state Mike Pompeo told Fox Business Network.
The warning highlights the global impact of the Huawei row, which is now threatening the stability of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance between the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
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Despite this, US President Donald Trump appeared to extend an olive branch to Huawei by contradicting the country’s calls for a ban on the its technology.
“I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies,” he wrote in a tweet.