The Huawei Hoopla: ICTs, Chinese Tech, and the Need for Geo-Cyber Strategy

The Current Political Crisis Surrounding Huawei (Updated on April 25, 2019)

Much of the debate surrounding Huawei and calls by certain countries to ban the Chinese firm’s technology has centered around geopolitical issues and largely ignored or glossed over everyday business impact.

But for a growing numbers of firms, from tiny startups to huge corporations, the continuing battle over Huawei, and the larger issues of Chinese theft of intellectual property, dramatic consequences are not just affecting long term strategic planning, but even everyday tasks.

What do businesses need to worry about? How can they assess their exposure to the Huawei tech specifically, and Chinese IP theft generally? And at a practical level, what is a business to do if it suspects it is a victim of Chinese efforts to steal sophisticated, potentially weaponizable, technology?

This report summarizes the current political crisis surrounding Huawei, how countries are responding, and what businesses in the network and computing components space need to be aware of as the fluid situation develops.