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02 April 2021 The internships in China offered by Huawei to the students of the most prestigious Italian universities started already in 2013. Groups of 15/20 of the most brilliant engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians to whom the Chinese multinational in agreement with the main Italian universities offer a trip to Shenzhen, Huawei's headquarters, as well as Shanghai or Beijing, to visit their research centers and factories. Students who are then hired by the multinational at the end of their degree courses. Italy has always been of primary importance for the Shenzhen giant: it is in our country that Huawei has identified unique excellences in the scientific field: technicians, engineers, highly specialized computer scientists in some of the most advanced hi-tech sectors: a Milan, where two of the most important Huawei research centers in the world are located, Italian brains can offer valuable skills such as those in the field of optical fibers.



This is why, despite the West's climate of suspicion towards China, which is advancing by leaps and bounds in technology, Huawei's relationship with our country is still in some respects consolidated.

It is on this basis that the Chinese giant of networks and mobile telephony has recently opened a cybersecurity center in Rome, a center for computer security.


It is the second most important after that of Brussels and should guarantee, according to the leaders of the multinational, maximum transparency of the networks, so as to ensure protection of sensitive data especially for companies most exposed to cyber espionage.

But what additional security can this cyber center offer and what are Huawei's relations with Italy?

We asked Luigi de Vecchis, president of Huawei Italia



President, why was this cybersecurity center born in Rome?


We, as a telecommunications multinational, are in the international standardization committees where the security standards of the networks are born as well as the standards to which the technologies must adapt to be included in the networks (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G being defined at moment outside these committees), we have always declared our transparency and our willingness to promote collaboration between vendors, operators and institutions to deal with the growing violations of hackers.

Up to now, these violations have been adequately rejected thanks to the work of the vendors and the exceptional protection of the operators through advanced monitoring and alert systems as also witnessed by ENISA, the European body that precisely monitors the resilience of the networks.

The Italian center follows the opening of other centers in the world of the same type, but we have understood that for the Italian legislator, who issued 2 important laws on network security, namely the Golden Power Law, the one on the Cyber ​​Perimeter, to have this center in Italy would have simplified the work of verification and control of operators and institutions.

Our decision to open the code and the drawings of the technologies, the only one to decide in this direction among all the vendors, should make the work of the controllers easier and more reliable.

We have opened our patent assets not without concern in the hope of having the respect that this decision deserves with the hope that control is a harbinger of credibility for us and the fall of prejudices for those who continue to mix geopolitics and technology.



At a time when the tension between China and the US is at the highest levels and especially when Italy has once again reaffirmed its "atlantist" position, what interest can Huawei have in fueling investments in Italy?

How could Huawei increase its business in our country?       

We are a multinational like all the others and like all the others we would not like to have geographical labels.

They are close to us considering the presence in 170 countries around the world where 170 different cultures work.

Our financial statements are certified by KPMG and are public, we are the only vendor that has obtained all the safety certifications of the GSMA pertaining to 3GPP-Nesas that cannot be neglected by the countries in which we operate.

We have not had any incidents in the networks where we are present, we do not have market dominance, but a reasonable market share in line with that of other vendors.

No dominant position.

We have completed the development of both the technology and all the software functions necessary for 5G to start the digital transformation of the economies of the countries that choose us.

We believe that geopolitical problems must be addressed seriously but on the right tables.

Here we want to stay in Italy and demonstrate the contribution we can make to the digitization of the country.

We have supplies to build the networks and projects that have been and will be assigned to us.

This is why we continue to invest and are committed to maintaining the jobs we have created.

We are determined and I hope convincing.



How much are Huawei's investments in Italy and what are they?

And what are the main centers and what functions do they perform?

Huawei in Italy can count on over 800 professionals (85% local), with two offices, in Milan and Rome, offices in the major cities, has created 5 Innovation Centers together with telecommunications operators, 1 Joint Innovation Center with the Sardinia Region where it is the government brain of a smart city has been fully developed.

We have an R&D center on microwave and millimeter wave technology in Segrate, which today is one of Huawei's most important innovation hubs outside China, thanks to the contribution of 100 researchers and collaboration with 15 Italian universities.

By 2021, Huawei plans to increase joint research efforts with Italian universities.

In addition, a new Aesthetic Research Center focused on User Experience Design (UX) and User Interface Design (UI) of consumer devices was built in Milan at the beginning of 2019. Finally, we launched a third center of research on Real Time and Embedded Software for autonomous driving.



Ongoing research contracts with Italian universities funded by Huawei amount to over $ 9 million.

The strong relationships with the academic ecosystem have led to the creation of 4 Joint and Innovation Labs: with the Politecnico di Milano on wireless issues, with the University of Pavia on microelectronics, with the University of Siena on antennas and with the University of Naples Federico II on the monitoring of IP traffic.



The US ban may have penalized Huawei, for example Xiaomi, another Chinese multinational that has suffered less pressure is now advancing.

As for Xiaomi, obviously we do not comment on the performance of other companies.

What we can say about the contraction of the business in the consumer (device) area is that the revenues of our mobile phone business have decreased due to the suspension of chip supplies and the inaccessibility for Huawei to Google Mobile Services.

However, we promptly adjusted our business portfolio, leading to rapid growth in the so-called "1 +8 + N" businesses and in the consumer cloud area, where "1" represents the mobile phone user, "8" represents the ecosystem of our devices (tablets, PCs, Virtual Reality devices, wearables, smart screens, smart audio, smart speakers and head units) and "N" represents the multiplicity of IoT (Internet of Things) devices.