Huawei Chairman Eric Xu: "We can produce without US components"
At IFA in Berlin I meet Huawei Chairman Eric Xu. He expects a long conflict with the US – and wants to persuade Europe to build its own smartphone ecosystem.
One of Huawei’s most senior managers is on a crisis tour of Europe. At IFA in Berlin I conducted an interview together with Sven Afhüppe with Huawei Chairman Eric Xu. He makes his position clear: the conflict with the United States will last years – and Europe has a rare opportunity to build its own digital ecosystem.
What is at stake
In May 2019 US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in telecommunications by executive order and prohibited US companies from working with Huawei. A few months later, in the middle of Europe’s largest technology trade fair, Eric Xu gives his first detailed interview with a German media outlet. His tone: strikingly assertive. Huawei is not expecting a thaw – it is preparing for a long-term conflict.
The key statements
Xu makes three remarks that linger. First: “We can operate in production entirely without components from US companies.” A direct answer to those who see Huawei as dependent on American semiconductor supply. Second: the US sanctions are not the end, they are the new normal. Huawei is counting on years, not months. Third – and this is the part interesting for Europe: if the EU builds its own ecosystem for smart devices, Huawei would participate.
Why this concerns Europe
Xu’s offer targets an open wound. With Android and iOS, two US companies dominate the smartphone market completely. Europe has no platform of its own, no comparable search engine, no independent app store. Huawei would be an attractive partner precisely at a moment when the US is weakening Europe as a digital base – and Xu delivers a second message: China is willing to talk; the US is applying pressure. A geopolitical bet with an open outcome.
What remains
Six years on, Xu has been proved right on many points. US sanctions have been tightened, Huawei has restructured its supply chains, developed its own smartphone operating system HarmonyOS and is growing again. His offer to Europe, however, went unheeded. Brussels has tended to restrict rather than to build alternatives to Google and Apple in partnership with Huawei.
I conducted this interview together with Sven Afhüppe for Handelsblatt.