University of California Berkeley bans new research projects with Huawei after US indicts Chinese telecoms giant
- The directive halting new Huawei funding took effect on January 30, two days after the US filed criminal charges against the telecoms equipment maker
- The ban does not apply to existing multi-year collaborative deals because ‘none of these projects involve sensitive technological secrets,’ the school said
The University of California’s flagship campus in Berkeley, one of the world’s top academic institutions, has halted new research collaborations with China’s Huawei Technologies in the wake of sweeping US criminal indictments against the telecoms equipment giant.
The directive banning new funding or gifts by Huawei or any of its subsidiaries and affiliates in support of UC Berkeley research projects took effect on January 30 “after careful internal review and consultation with peer institutions” because of the “serious allegations” in the US Justice Department’s 13-count indictment announced two days earlier, the university said.
“UC Berkeley holds its research partners to the highest possible standards of corporate conduct, and the severity of these accusations raises questions and concerns that only our judicial system can address,” Randy Howard Katz, the university’s vice-chancellor for research, said in a letter to the school’s deans and other senior directors.
The US justice department’s indictments contend that Huawei stole trade secrets from a telecoms rival and violated US sanctions against doing business with Iran.
The charges were brought against Huawei, China’s largest smartphone maker; its US affiliate; Hong Kong-based Skycom; and Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, for conspiracy that poses a national security threat to the US.
