4 ms·

Using a throwaway to share our $0.02 relating to this. AMA I guess. We're a US-based startup that does about $100-200k in business annually with Futurewei (Hua

Using a throwaway to share our $0.02 relating to this. AMA I guess. We're a US-based startup that does about $100-200k in business annually with Futurewei (Huawei's R&D subsidiary). I've never dealt with Huawei proper. I can say they're genuinely investing in R&D, and trying to build a product unlike anything being offered right now. We're working with tech that's floating around the academic conferences, but no one else commercially will touch. This in contrast to our experiences with established US companies which, a) don't want to deal with early-stage research, b) wouldn't work with us as a new, small company, and c) gave bad IP terms (ironically). Not excusing other activities, but for us it's been above-board and beneficial. If they want to pump their profits into the US ecosystem, I see that as beneficial.

gramakri 7y ago
I don't have a question but your throwaway username is fantastic.
- stevens32 7y ago
  Wish I could add more value to this comment.. but I also upvoted for the name.
duckmysick 7y ago
How did the two of you get connected with each other?
- throwawei 7y ago
  Originally had a friend that knew one of the people there. I was going solo-preneur at the time, so it essentially started as a consulting gig.
clickme_zsh 7y ago
Good username!
plandis 7y ago
What company and why should anyone believe this?
- VRay 7y ago
  It's $200k/year, which is basically nothing to a megacorp like Huawei. Not sure why you're so incredulous
jorblumesea 7y ago
But, don't you see the connection between their risk high investments and the IP they've stolen from US companies? If anything, Huawei made its name of stealing from Nortel, Cisco, etc. Not to mention, questionable ties to the CCP. If they have R&D money to burn, it's because they've saved billions on R&D because they stole it. To see them as "good actor" because of a token $200k, while stealing literally tens of billions is missing the forest for the trees. Strategically, feels penny wise, pound foolish.
- throwawei 7y ago
  I think the stealing instead of R&D thing is somewhat misled. These guys are definitely spending billions on research as well. I get the concern, and fines and punishment is all fine. But I think they might also have got caught in the geopolitical crossfire. It's a messy world; Samsung and Apple are stealing eachother's billions everyday, Google and Facebook are spying on us, DOD is killing people. I don't know who it's morally permissible to do business with anymore, but we're trying to get by.
  - jorblumesea 7y ago
    > But I think they might also have got caught in the geopolitical crossfire I think it's extremely naive to think that Huawei is just an innocent victim. Almost willfully so. > I think the stealing instead of R&D thing is somewhat misled. These guys are definitely spending billions on research as well. If you really think Huawei's R&D theft is blown out of proportion, there's a huge mountain of evidence that suggests the exact opposite. There's really not much wiggle room for ifs and buts. If anything, it's probably worse than reported. https://www.wsj.com/articles/huaweis-yearslong-rise-is-littered-with-accusations-of-theft-and-dubious-ethics-11558756858 https://www.wsj.com/articles/huaweis-yearslong-rise-is-litte... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei#Intellectual_property_and_theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei#Intellectu... and you know, this indictment. That being said, I don't expect you to say anything bad about the hand that feeds you. Given Huawei's reputation, they're probably monitoring you as we speak.
    - 7y ago
dmead 7y ago
Nice for you you can do business with a totalitarian regime and get away with it.

gramakri 7y ago

I don't have a question but your throwaway username is fantastic.

stevens32 7y ago
Wish I could add more value to this comment.. but I also upvoted for the name.

duckmysick 7y ago

How did the two of you get connected with each other?

throwawei 7y ago
Originally had a friend that knew one of the people there. I was going solo-preneur at the time, so it essentially started as a consulting gig.

clickme_zsh 7y ago

Good username!

plandis 7y ago

What company and why should anyone believe this?

VRay 7y ago
It's $200k/year, which is basically nothing to a megacorp like Huawei. Not sure why you're so incredulous

jorblumesea 7y ago

But, don't you see the connection between their risk high investments and the IP they've stolen from US companies? If anything, Huawei made its name of stealing from Nortel, Cisco, etc. Not to mention, questionable ties to the CCP. If they have R&D money to burn, it's because they've saved billions on R&D because they stole it. To see them as "good actor" because of a token $200k, while stealing literally tens of billions is missing the forest for the trees. Strategically, feels penny wise, pound foolish.

throwawei 7y ago
I think the stealing instead of R&D thing is somewhat misled. These guys are definitely spending billions on research as well. I get the concern, and fines and punishment is all fine. But I think they might also have got caught in the geopolitical crossfire. It's a messy world; Samsung and Apple are stealing eachother's billions everyday, Google and Facebook are spying on us, DOD is killing people. I don't know who it's morally permissible to do business with anymore, but we're trying to get by.
- jorblumesea 7y ago
  > But I think they might also have got caught in the geopolitical crossfire I think it's extremely naive to think that Huawei is just an innocent victim. Almost willfully so. > I think the stealing instead of R&D thing is somewhat misled. These guys are definitely spending billions on research as well. If you really think Huawei's R&D theft is blown out of proportion, there's a huge mountain of evidence that suggests the exact opposite. There's really not much wiggle room for ifs and buts. If anything, it's probably worse than reported. https://www.wsj.com/articles/huaweis-yearslong-rise-is-littered-with-accusations-of-theft-and-dubious-ethics-11558756858 https://www.wsj.com/articles/huaweis-yearslong-rise-is-litte... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei#Intellectual_property_and_theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei#Intellectu... and you know, this indictment. That being said, I don't expect you to say anything bad about the hand that feeds you. Given Huawei's reputation, they're probably monitoring you as we speak.
  - 7y ago

dmead 7y ago

Nice for you you can do business with a totalitarian regime and get away with it.