Why are there black swans roaming the grounds at Huawei’s China HQ?
The arrest of CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhao on suspicion of violating US trade sanctions with Iran has turned the spotlight on the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment
Authorities in Canada have arrested the chief financial officer of the Chinese company Huawei, reportedly on suspicion of violating US trade sanctions on Iran.
For Americans, Huawei may not be a familiar name, but the technology giant is actually the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, behind only Samsung, after recently pulling ahead of Apple.
This incident threatens to have major implications on the relationship between the US and China, which has already ordered Canada to “immediately release” Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhao.
Huawei is a massive technology company producing telecommunications services, enterprise technology, and consumer devices, like smartphones.
The company sells its products in more than 70 countries.
The company raked in almost US$93 billion in sales last year, which puts it about on par with Microsoft.
Huawei is the largest maker of telecommunications equipment in the world and the world's second-largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung.
Huawei was founded by Ren Zhengfei in 1987, and he still serves as an executive in the company.
Before Huawei, Ren worked as an engineer for China's military, the People's Liberation Army.