Huawei Expected to Dismiss Hundreds of American Employees

According to the Verge, Huawei is planning to lay off hundreds of American employees. The company has been embroiled in controversy ever since it was incorporated into the “entity list” by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the exact number of layoffs is still unsettled, however, it is expected to be in the hundreds. Another person familiar with the matter said that some Huawei employees in the United States can choose to return to China and continue to work in Huawei. On this topic, Huawei declined to comment.

It is also reported that Futurewei Technologies, Huawei’s U.S.-based research arm will also be affected. Futurewei has attempted to distance itself from its parent company following the U.S. government’s blacklisting of Huawei.

Back in May 2019, Huawei dismissed as many as 1200 American employees in R&D and other executive departments. Although the dismissal doesn’t seem to incur any losses for America, many netizens believe this is a demonstration of Huawei’s patriotic stance.

On June 29, President Trump held a press conference after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Osaka, Japan, announcing that American companies will continue to sell products to Huawei. However, Huawei has not yet been removed from the U.S. trade blacklist. The U.S. Department of Commerce stated on July 3 that since Huawei is still on the blacklist, the government will proceed with the highest national security standards when examining American companies’ export licenses to Huawei.

According to latest report by Reuters, it is likely that U.S. companies will receive permission to resume business with Huawei in two to four weeks.