Chinese phone manufacturing giant Huawei Technologies Co. plans to lay off staff at its US-based Research and Development Subsidiary, Futurewei Technologies. The company blames the struggle associated with the US blacklisting for this.
The lay off is alleged to affect workers from Futurewei Technologies. The unit which employs up to 850 people across the US; Texas, California and Washington DC inclusive. According to The Wall Street Journal, Huawei has not commented. However, the exact number of staff to be affected with the lay off are alleged to be in hundreds. WSJ revealed that Chinese employees in the US have been given the option to return home and remain with the company.
See also: President Trump Finally Permits the US to Trade with Huawei again
The trade ban on Huawei of May 16th by the US has caused so many controversies for the company with the likes of Google cutting off ties with the company. Due to this, employees at the Futurewei unit has been banned from communicating with colleagues at the Huawei China offices. This is because Futurewei’s R&D efforts could disobey the U.S. blacklisting orders. WSJ has revealed that some employees have received their letter of dismissal, with more dismissals still on the way.
Huawei employs about 1500 staff to mainly handle equipment sales to rural wireless carriers across the US. Other employees in the US carry out research for a collection of technologies at Futurewei. The company employs over 180,000 people worldwide.
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