Seeking strategies to expand in the USA, Huawei Technologies Co. copper clad laminate suppliers has hired a slate of American advisers directed at assuaging national security worries that have stymied the Chinese telecommunications-gear maker's U. circuit board designers S. pc board fabrication ambitions.
Huawei has to prevail over some suspicions about links to the Chinese government and military, since its founder and largest shareholder, Ren Zhengfei, is a previous army officer. The head of company's USA operations, however, says Huawei is ready to play the long game.
'We are not in a hurry to win any significant or large project in the America,' Charlie W. Chen, Huawei's senior v . p . for advertising and product management, stated in an interview.
Mr. Chen said it was 'totally untrue' that Huawei had ties towards the Chinese government. 'With time, and as more consumers comprehend our items, this fear will go away.'
Huawei has been a finalist in bidding for large USA contracts, including the 4G buildouts of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. But to this point its victory in the America have been limited by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Huawei is among the companies that is eyeing Motorola Inc.'s network-equipment unit, claim people aware of the matter. Yet these people say bidding for the unit, which provides equipment to Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp., may have to wait until next year. Mr. Chen might not discuss Huawei's acquisition plans.
The Motorola unit, which mainly makes technologies for outdated networks, announced $366 million in profit just last year, as sales decreased by 20% to $4.1 billion.
While Huawei's USA sales rose 53% this past year, the region represented merely $319 million of the Huawei's $21.5 billion in worldwide revenue. The company had 750 USA employees spread across 7 offices in 2009 and prepares to hire 500 much more this year.
The company in China has taken meatures to seek to modify its image in Washington, where federal regulators must approve any sale of sensitive property to foreigners. Huawei fall of last year engaged an American chief technical officer, Matt Bross, who held the same position at British Telecom, to help win U.S. business.
This year, it has retained firms of law devoted to mergers,telecom, and in winning federal agreement for delicate international deals. So far, it has retained Sullivan & Cromwell, Skadden Arps, and Arnold & Porter, based on people accustomed to the matter.
Joseph Frumkin, who structured many of deals that created the current AT&T, declined to say in case that Huawei was a consumer. But explained his firm served as 'enablers' for Chinese corporations. 'We help them get deals done.'
Huawei has already lost out on an acquisition stemming from security concerns. It backed out of a 2007 partnership with Bain Capital to buy the marketing company 3Com Inc. while the deal stood before the Committee for Foreign Investment inside the America, which evaluates sensitive acquisitions by foreign companies. 3Com was later gained by Hewlett-Packard Co.
More in recent times, Huawei bid for but didn't win assets from Nortel Networks Corp., which is being finished in personal bankruptcy court. The property were sold to Telefon A.B. LM Ericsson in Sweden.
