It is the first installation of this type outside of China. The Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has announced the installation in France of a radio equipment production site for 5G.
The site, which will represent a minimum investment of 200 million euros and will initially employ 500 people, will produce equipment for the entire European market. "The site will initially manufacture radio equipment (for example antennas) and then expand to other products in the future, depending on the needs of the European market," said group president Liang Hua during a press conference.
Huawei accused of spying
According to Huawei, the factory should produce around one billion euros of equipment per year. The group plans to make it a largely automated site. On the other hand, the Chinese equipment supplier did not specify in which region the factory would be established, nor when it would enter into activity.
“We have created a working group which will select the site. We interact both with local communities and with the government and have communicated the broad outlines of our needs, ”said Liang Hua. This announcement comes in a difficult context for the Chinese group, which Washington has banned the use of American technological products for a year. Huawei claims to have been able to compensate by turning to European and Asian suppliers.
Limited access to the 5G market
The world's leading telecoms equipment supplier, Huawei has been implicated, against the backdrop of the trade war between the United States and China, by the Trump government, which highlights the risk of espionage on behalf of the Chinese government. The United States has called on many countries, particularly in Europe, not to use Huawei infrastructure for the deployment of the new 5G telephone network.
After the United Kingdom, France nevertheless plans to give it limited access to the 5G market. Germany, for its part, has not yet announced its decision, but Chancellor Angela Merkel declared in December "against the a priori exclusion of a specific company", while promising to "do everything to guarantee the security ”of German infrastructure.
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