Huawei reported to open a chip plant near Cambridge

Huawei is expected to open a 400-person chip research and development factory outside Cambridge, in the heart of the UK’s silicon chip industry, according to a Saturday report by the Financial Times.

Located in the village of Sawston, about 7 miles from Cambridge, the plant is built for the research and development of broadband networks chips.

The facility is due to operate by 2021 and to create up to 400 jobs by then.

The London-based newspaper concluded that Huawei’s decision to make chips in Cambridge would create powerful competition for the region’s semiconductor talents.

The news is yet to be confirmed by the company, but its founder Ren Zhengfei did mention during an interview with the BBC in February this year, that the company would open an optical chip plant in Britain after purchasing around 500 acres of land in the county of Cambridge, in a bid to export optical chips to other western countries without transporting chips from China.

Huawei wanted to lead the world on optical chips, and was determined to expand its investment in the United Kingdom. And the company would manufacture and sell optical chips to other western countries under the oversight of the UK government, Ren added.

China has called on western countries to resist external pressure and make the right decisions independently on whether to involve Huawei in building its 5G communication network.

Chinse Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming made the comments in his signed article published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, last month.

The ambassador added that “Huawei has had a good track record on security over the years.”