Huawei plans mass layoffs in the US as it remains on trade blacklist

According to a report by the WSJ, Huawei is planning extensive layoffs in the United States as the company still remains on the Entity List. Despite Donald Trump’s statement two weeks ago, American enforcement agents are told to treat Huawei as a “blacklisted” company. The layoffs are expected to affect Futurewei Technologies, a subsidiary that focuses on research and development, and they employ about 850 people around the United States.

A source reportedly told the WSJ that Chinese employees in the US were given options to return home or to stay with the US-based company. It added some employees have been informed of their dismissal while more planned job cuts will be announced soon.

Last month, it was reported that Huawei had made several moves to separate its research arm from its parent company after Huawei was placed on a trade blacklist. Futurewei Technologies had allegedly banned Huawei employees from its offices and have moved its employees onto a separate IT system. On top of that, they have also stopped Futurewei employees from using the Huawei name and logo in their communications.

Unfortunately, it appears that the separation from the Chinese band didn’t seem to have improved the situation. US Congressman Jim Banks had signed a letter warning about Huawei’s university partnerships and he added that any move to separate Futurewei and Huawei would not solve those concerns. He insists that Futurewei is Huawei.

The company had conducted a variety of research and grant programmes with US universities and it was claimed that Huawei has partnerships with at least 50 universities. Several universities have stopped accepting new funding agreements from Huawei and Futurewei since December, but they have continued working with the two companies under existing arrangements.

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