Huawei spent £1 billion in 2018 to build a research and development base near Cambridge, England, spending £37 million just to buy land that it hoped would serve as its photoelectric international headquarters. But as international pressure mounts, Huawei’s future in the U.K. is beginning to come into question.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Huawei has abandoned plans to build the research campus. In fact, despite receiving planning permission in 2020 and promising to complete the first phase of construction by 2021, Huawei has yet to break ground.
▲ Photo credit: Huawei
South Cambridgeshire councilors say their requests have gone unanswered by Huawei, whose planning permission to build is due to expire in more than five months. That means Huawei has until August to break ground.
Mr. Myers said bluntly, “I got no response when I tried to talk to Huawei about this. It’s a shame because the development here is generally popular and the company has done a lot of work with the community. Unfortunately, the political issues seem to have taken their toll. The whole project has come to a standstill.”
Huawei had planned to build a high-end facility on the 500-acre site to develop broadband communications technology, microchips and artificial intelligence software, but has put the development plans on “evaluation” since the outbreak, according to the report.
According to known information, the site is adjacent to Arm and covers 500 acres, 100 of which are being used to build a new campus. At the same time, Huawei is also establishing a chip research center in Edinburgh. It is worth mentioning that Huawei leased this land in the UK from NWBio for 20 years.
A Huawei spokesperson said in response that the company was still evaluating the project and that “we are aware of the status of the planning application and placed it under internal review for evaluation during the outbreak. The spokesman declined to say whether Huawei intended to start work before the deadline. Huawei also said it could not find any record of unanswered letters from Mr. Myers or anyone else about the plan.
The company previously claimed that the investment in the Cambridge area represented a “significant vote of financial confidence in the U.K.” that would put the country at the forefront of chip research and development. The R&D facility will reportedly focus on optoelectronics for fiber-optic broadband cables and lasers. A planning application says the site will also house a facility for developing microchip wafers.
