Huawei's CEO Ren Zhengfei, who has been in the middle of the long-drawn US-China trade war for a long time, thinks the US response is stimulating. He refers to the fact that the US government has placed Huawei on a special list of companies that US subcontractors are not allowed to supply components, because they pose a security threat to US companies.
- We needed someone who popped a little on us with a stick, a little stimulation we started to get lazy.
Ren Zhengfei laughingly adds that "it is actually cheaper for us to manufacture the components ourselves, we have the know-how".
On the criticism that Huawei and its technology could pose a security risk to Sweden and other countries, Zhengfei says that all countries should have "digital sovereignty" over their own territory,
- It is good if Sweden provides its own legislation that regulates the country's digital sovereignty.
"Always looked up to Ericsson"The meeting with the four Nordic public service companies is exclusive and Ren Zengfei spends a lot of time describing how open Huawei is to collaborations and scrutiny of outsiders. He praises both Finnish Nokia and Swedish Ericsson but is also clear that Huawei is currently number one in the world on 5G technology.
- I've always looked up to the Swedish telecom company Ericsson, but instead of drinking coffee, Huawei has invested all resources in research and development, he says laughing to us.
See more from the interview in the clip above.