Huawei

In August 2026, Huawei courted Egypt with a proposal to build AI data centers powered by its Ascend chips, explicitly including military and surveillance applications and integration with national population databases; reporting noted the presence of China's Ministry of Public Security insignia in proposal materials, suggesting direct involvement of Chinese state surveillance infrastructure. The bid put Huawei in direct competition with a US-backed consortium for the same government tender, marking one of the first instances of head-to-head US-China competition for a national AI data center contract. The US government raised concerns, warning of extraterritorial legal consequences for unauthorized use of restricted Huawei accelerators; Egypt is one of roughly 40 countries requiring US permission for AI chip shipments. A similar Huawei-powered national AI proposal in Malaysia was scaled back after US pressure, and Malaysian customs seized a $13 million chip shipment bound for re-export in June 2026.

As of 2026, Huawei was identified as a lead supplier (alongside ZTE and Hikvision) in a reported $2 billion-plus buildout of AI-powered surveillance infrastructure across 11+ African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Zambia, and Uganda, financed in part through Chinese state-backed 'soft loans' conditioned on purchasing Chinese surveillance technology as part of the Digital Silk Road programme. Deployments include facial recognition and automated license-plate cameras in cities such as Nairobi, Lusaka, and Abuja, and a 2026 'Smart Surveillance Infrastructure' rollout in Cross River State, Nigeria. Human rights researchers documented that African governments have repeatedly repurposed these systems to monitor and repress political opposition, dissidents, and human rights activists in the absence of adequate legal oversight.

World Uyghur Congress filed complaints in French courts (April 7 and September 8, 2025) against Huawei France, Hikvision, and Dahua for complicity in crimes against humanity against Uyghurs. Charges include genocide, human trafficking, aggravated servitude, and concealment. Allegations state Huawei participated in developing innovative police laboratories in East Turkistan, testing systems for detecting Uyghurs in crowds. Supported by Don't Fund Russian Army NGO.

On December 10, 2020, French national team footballer Antoine Griezmann announced to his 30+ million Instagram followers the immediate termination of his four-year Huawei brand ambassadorship (which began 2017). He stated: 'Following strong suspicions that the Huawei company has contributed to the development of a 'Uighur alert' thanks to facial recognition software, I am announcing the immediate termination of my partnership.' Contract was being negotiated for two-year extension.

In 2018, Huawei worked with Megvii to test an AI camera system that could scan faces, estimate age/sex/ethnicity, and trigger a 'Uighur alarm' if detecting minority members, potentially flagging them for police. A confidential document was hosted on Huawei's European website and later deleted after IPVM inquiry. Both companies acknowledged document authenticity. Huawei claimed it was 'simply a test' and had not seen real-world application.

Meng Wanzhou (CFO and founder's daughter) was arrested in Canada on December 1, 2018 on US extradition request for bank fraud and conspiracy to circumvent Iran sanctions. Charges involved long-running scheme where Huawei employees lied about relationship to Skycom, an Iran affiliate, enabling approximately $100M in US-dollar transactions supporting Iran work (2010-2014). Meng reached deferred prosecution agreement September 24, 2021, admitting misleading HSBC. Charges dismissed December 1, 2022.

All Five Eyes intelligence alliance members declared Huawei equipment poses 'significant security risks' with allegations Beijing could use 5G infrastructure for espionage. US banned Huawei/ZTE from federal government use (August 2018 NDAA) and added Huawei to Entity List (May 2019). UK, Australia, New Zealand banned equipment from 5G networks. Germany proposed ban by 2026 (September 2023). Eleven EU countries took 5G security measures against Huawei and ZTE.

In July 2018, Huawei and Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly filed patent application for 'identification of pedestrian attributes' that specifically referenced Uyghurs as one 'race' that 'can be' detected: 'The attributes of the target object can be gender (male, female), age (such as teenagers, middle-aged, old), race (Han, Uyghur)'. Following BBC and IPVM investigation in January 2021, Huawei said they would 'amend' the patent, stating ethnicity identification 'should never have become part of the application.'

In 2018, Huawei signed agreement with Xinjiang Public Security Bureau for creation of 'intelligent security industry' hub. The company partnered on a 'joint innovation lab' focused on policing technologies. Internal documents reveal Huawei tested facial recognition systems capable of flagging Uyghurs in crowds for the bureau responsible for mass surveillance in the region.