Huawei could sell its 5G technology to an interested buyer

Huawei could pursue a sale of all its patents, licenses, code and the know-how linked to the development of 5G technology. The company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfen said this in the context of an interview with The Economist.

It would be a matter of actually transferring a part of the company, being the telecommunications business so strongly rooted in Huawei, a competitor or a company that wants to enter the 5G systems sector by acquiring proprietary technology already available for the market.

The agreement would allow the buyer to modify the source code developed by Huawei, so as to meet all the doubts about the safety of Huawei technologies especially with reference to possible monitoring activities implemented by the Chinese government.

On the other hand, Huawei would reserve the possibility of continuing to develop technologies related to 5G communications for its products: anything but a departure from this market and moreover difficult to think that Huawei wants to quickly give up a a sector that everyone refers to be as fundamental for technological development.

Ren Zhengfen believes that this operation would open up the market differently to what is happening now, allowing many Western companies to become a reference in the world of 5G technologies. A Western company that would take over from Huawei all its 5G-related technological knowledge would have the ability to quickly establish all the business relationships that are currently closed to Huawei, due to the considerations related to data security initiated by the Trump administration in its own opposition to the Chinese government.

It remains to understand which companies could be interested in taking over this business from Huawei, and above all which ones would have the commercial strength. An operation of this type is difficult to quantify, but it seems obvious to think that it can be worth tens of billions of US dollars given the investments carried out by Huawei over the years.

Even finding a potential buyer it remains to be assessed whether Huawei will want to complete an operation of this type. The scenario that lies ahead is certainly interesting, at least on paper. Huawei would collect a considerable amount, actually compensating for all the business with foreign operators that at the moment seems to be closed, without prejudice to the possibility of continuing to develop 5G technology that will continue to offer those companies (and those states) that have no problems to establish business relationships with you.

What is certain is the general interest in the development of 5G technology, seen as a turning point for the future development of the different economies on a global level. Sector in which Huawei plays a fundamental role with its own technologies, and which it could continue to maintain indirectly through a buying partner. But who this is still remains a mystery.