Despite being labeled an unreliable partner, Chinese tech giant Huawei is participating in 16 projects funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe research program, Politico reports.
The EC banned Huawei from Horizon projects in 2023 after saying it and another Chinese company, ZTE, posed a significantly higher risk than other 5G technology suppliers in terms of cybersecurity and foreign influence. However, data reviewed by Politico shows that Huawei is still participating in several projects, many of which touch on sensitive areas such as cloud computing, 5G and 6G telecommunications technologies, and data centers.
Huawei’s involvement in Horizon projects means it is working closely with universities and technology companies in Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Finland, and Italy. The Chinese company therefore has access to the intellectual property created in the projects, as their terms require that information and ownership rights are shared between the partners.
The EC representative confirmed that 15 of the 16 project contracts were concluded before the restrictions came into force. In turn, one contract was concluded in 2025 and was assessed as not being subject to the existing restrictions.
Some of the projects started in January 2023 and will be concluded by the end of this year,
while others will continue until 2027, 2028 and 2030. A Huawei representative indicated that the company Horizon is participating in the projects in a legal and appropriate manner.
One of the projects is to develop data privacy and protection tools in the fields of artificial intelligence and big data, and also involves the Italian National Research Council, the University of Malaga, the University of Toulouse, the University of Calabria and the Bavarian Institute of High Technology. Huawei received 207,000 euros in funding to lead the design, implementation and use case assessment.
In January, the EC, after years of urging national governments to voluntarily adopt such a decision, initiated a new Cybersecurity Act that would deny Huawei access to critical telecommunications infrastructure. Henna Virkkunen, the EC’s vice-president for technology and security, told Politico that she was not satisfied with the way member states were implementing guidelines for working with high-risk suppliers. She stressed that it is known that suppliers considered risky partners work with European 5G networks, and stricter rules will now be introduced.
The EC is also working on measures that would prevent Chinese companies from participating in the conclusion of attractive public contracts. Huawei was embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal last year, with Belgian authorities investigating whether the tech giant had sought to influence EU lawmakers. The scandal led to a ban on the Chinese company from lobbying the EC and the European Parliament.
Read also: North Korean leader’s teenage daughter – a director of a missile program and a potential leader of the country