From Path-Dependent to Pathbreaking?

Abstract

This chapter delineates Huawei’s path to its cutting-edge technology and innovation leadership by examining its specific R&D strategies in different domains, including its core strength in switching technology, its contradictory role in developing China’s indigenous telecom standards, the catch-up strategy in semiconductor technology, and its patents and intellectual property strategies. It highlights the paradoxical dynamics between the techno-nationalist initiative and the logic of capitalist accumulation underlying Huawei’s technological innovation. Huawei’s increasing power in international markets and the arena of technological governance suggests that Chinese technological firms have played an increasingly important role in influencing and even defining global technology.