Blacklisted Chinese tech giant Huawei is quietly funding high-tech research at ... trends now
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has quietly been funding cutting-edge research at America's top universities, despite being blacklisted by the US government.
Huawei is using an independent Washington DC-based foundation to give millions of dollars to universities including Harvard since 2022, according to a bombshell report by Bloomberg.
The US imposed restrictions on Huawei over concerns that it is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and its technology could be Xi Jinping as a spying tool to advance his anti-US agenda.
However, a research competition solely funded by Huawei has drawn hundreds of professors at top US universities, many of which, like Harvard, have banned their researches from working with the Chinese firm.
The competition is overseen by the Optica Foundation, a wing of the nonprofit Optica, which focuses on communications, biomedical diagnostics and lasers.
The US imposed restrictions on Huawei over concerns that it is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and its technology could be Xi Jinping as a spying tool to advance his anti-US agenda. Xi is seen with Ren Zhengfei, president of Huawei
Huawei's Chief Optical Standards Expert, scientist Xiang Liu, is part of the competition’s 10-person selection committee.
In documents seen by Bloomberg, the foundation declares it 'shall not be required to designate Huawei as the funding source or program sponsor' of the competition.
Moreover, the document states 'the existence and content of this Agreement and the relationship between the Parties shall also be considered Confidential Information.'
Several applicants and university officials told Bloomberg they were not aware that Huawei was behind the program, which hands out $1million per year.
Huawei's Chief Optical Standards Expert, scientist Xiang Liu, is part of the competition’s 10-person selection committee
A Huawei spokesperson told Bloomberg the Optica Foundation was created to 'support global research and promote academic communication,' and there was no ill intent.
Optica’s CEO Liz Rogan said some of the
