Huawei’s rebirth as cloud provider faces total U.S. export ban threat
Huawei’s rebirth as a cloud provider faces an existential threat from a total U.S. export ban, but the Chinese tech giant is vowing to fight back.
Huawei’s Consumer Business Group (CBG) announced on Sunday that it has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in an attempt to overturn the Trump administration’s export ban. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
“The U.S. Government’s actions against Huawei are unconstitutional and unlawful,” said Huawei CBG CEO Richard Yu in a statement. “Huawei has been in the U.S. market for more than 30 years, providing quality products and services to American consumers and businesses.”
The lawsuit is the latest salvo in an ongoing fight between Huawei and the U.S. government. The Trump administration placed Huawei on the Commerce Department’s so-called “Entity List” in May 2019, effectively banning U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese tech giant.
The U.S. government has accused Huawei of being a national security risk, citing the company’s alleged ties to the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied these allegations.
The export ban has been a major blow to Huawei, which was once the world’s largest smartphone maker. The company has seen its market share plummet in the wake of the ban, as it has been unable to source key components from U.S. suppliers.
However, Huawei has been working to diversify its business in recent months, and the launch of its own Huawei Cloud service is a major part of that effort.
The Huawei Cloud is a major differentiator for the company, as it is one of the few cloud providers that is not reliant on U.S. infrastructure. This gives Huawei a distinct advantage in markets like China, where the government has been cracking down on the use of foreign cloud providers.
Huawei’s lawsuit against the U.S. government is a long shot, but it is a sign that the company is not going to go down without a fight.
