Who’s afraid of Huawei?
The rise of a Chinese world-beater is stoking fears of cyber-espionage. Techno-nationalism is not the answer
CHINESE companies have started to win first place in global markets. Huawei has just overtaken Sweden’s Ericsson to become the world’s largest telecoms-equipment-maker. Even though many foreigners still cannot pronounce its name (some call it “Hawaii”, and the firm has even produced a video teaching people to say hwah-way), Huawei is becoming an increasingly powerful global player, capable of going head-to-head with the best in intensely competitive markets. It follows Haier, which is already the leading white-goods-maker; now Lenovo is challenging Hewlett-Packard as the world’s biggest PC-maker. Plenty more will follow (see article).
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Who’s afraid of Huawei?”
From the August 4th 2012 edition
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