Huawei Woos Tech World With $1.5 Billion and 5G Secrets

Huawei is offering up its most valuable 5G secrets and $1.5 billion to software developers, according to Bloomberg.

China’s largest technology company aims to ramp up investment in its developer program over the next five years, Deputy Chairman Ken Hu told attendees at an annual conference. That effort is gaining urgency with Huawei in danger of losing access to American circuity and code, including the Google software it needs to run the world’s No. 2 mobile device business.

Huawei is accelerating its outreach after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the sale of U.S. technology, encouraging allies to cut ties with a Chinese company it accuses of aiding Beijing in espionage. In response, Huawei offered to sell a license to its vaunted fifth-generation wireless technology to create a viable competitor and prove its gear is free of security loopholes.

“There are a lot of concerns over Huawei’s 5G solutions. We believe those concerns are groundless,“ Hu told reporters in Shanghai. “By allowing others to acquire these technologies via commercial methods, it will help reduce the concerns.“ The company intends to build its base of partner-developers to 5 million eventually, Hu said. That army of firms and individuals could help craft apps optimized to run on Huawei’s Kunpeng and AI chip computing architecture, which will power everything from internet servers to machine learning solutions.

“This work has already started and we’ve received very good feedback,“ he said. Hu reiterated an offer first voiced by billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei to share 5G blueprints. While he was vague on how that would work, Hu said Huawei would be willing to open up its tech vaults for a fee, to help another company catch up on a technology that will drive applications from smart homes to self-driving cars. “Customers and the entire industry will benefit from more competition, which is something that Huawei is willing to see,“ Hu said.