The EU is funding Huawei to run cutting-edge research on next-generation communication systems, even though several European governments have banned the Chinese tech group from their telecoms networks.Huawei’s involvement in multiple sensitive projects, ranging from artificial intelligence to 6G and cloud computing, has come despite Brussels pressing for stricter curbs on the company over security fears.
The Financial Times identified Huawei as a participant in 11 projects under the bloc’s flagship Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, receiving up to 14 per cent of funding per scheme totalling €3.89mn.
More significant than the value of the funding is the fact that it puts Huawei at the heart of sensitive technologies in Europe despite moves by about a third of EU countries to push out “high-risk vendors” from 5G infrastructure.