Huawei said on Tuesday that it has decided to set up 5G manufacturing bases in Europe, so that to "truly have 5G for Europe made in Europe."
Abraham Liu, Huawei's chief representative to the European Union Institutions, said in the company's spring reception that the company has already had candidate places in mind, and "that is an ongoing process," according to Xinhua News Agency.
"Huawei is more committed to Europe than ever before," he said.
When asked by a Xinhua reporter whether this decision would improve Europe's confidence in the security of Huawei's products, former European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding replied "yes, of course", since the manufacturing would be "under European rules, and so that will really be a boost to credibility."
Huawei’s announcement comes just days after the EU recommended that member states could ban telecoms operators deemed a security risk from critical parts of 5G infrastructure.
The EU plan, which closely mirrored rules set out by Britain allowing a limited role for Huawei, stopped short of barring the company from the next-generation communications network designed for near-instantaneous data transfers.
On January 28, the British government said that it will allow Huawei to help build the country's 5G networks, despite excluding it from "core" parts of the network.
UK telecom operators will be able to use Huawei equipment in their 5G networks but it will be excluded from "security critical" core areas, according to a statement from the government.
Huawei responded by saying that the British government confirmed that Huawei can continue to cooperate with customers to maintain the progress of 5G deployment.
