Huawei in Muted Launch of Korean 5G Hub
01 June, 2019
Huawei officially launched a 5G tryout lab in Seoul on Thursday overshadowed by a U.S.-led boycott that is part of the Trump administration's trade war with China.
The lab will allow Korean start-ups and small tech companies to try out their 5G technology and is expected to serve as a test bed for other Asian businesses seeking to commercialize the high-speed service.
Huawei has also announced plans for open labs in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia, but the one in Korea is the first outside China.
But at this point Huawei wants to draw as little attention as possible to the opening event amid the campaign against it, and it is even unclear how much it plans to invest and what kind of equipment will be tested at the lab.
The tech giant initially planned a big opening event but changed its mind as the boycott intensified. A Huawei staffer said, "In the present situation, any Korean business that comes could end up suffering damage. We are launching the lab to improve cooperation with Korean companies, so we need to be extra careful."
LG Uplus is the only Korean telecom to use Huawei's 5G equipment, and its share price immediately took a nosedive once that became known.
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