restricted from doing business with American companies. The US government also requested the extradition of Huawei's chief financial officer from Canada. In June 2019, Huawei cut jobs at its Santa Clara research center, and in December, Ren said it was moving the center to Canada.[22][23] In 2020, Huawei agreed to sell the Honor brand to a state-owned enterprise of the Shenzhen government to "ensure its survival" under US sanctions.[24] In November 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned sales or import of equipment made by Huawei out of national security concerns,[25] and other countries such as all members of the Five Eyes, Quad members India and Japan, and ten European Union states have since also banned or restricted Huawei products.[26][27][28][29][30] emphasis on service and customizability, the company gained market share and made its way into the mainstream market.[47]
Huawei also won a key contract to build the first national telecommunications network for the People's Liberation Army, a deal one employee described as "small in terms of our overall business, but large in terms of our relationships".[48] In 1994, founder Ren Zhengfei had a meeting with General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin, telling him that "switching equipment technology was related to national security, and that a nation that did not have its own switching equipment was like one that lacked its own military." Jiang reportedly agreed with this assessment.[44]
In the 1990s, Canadian telecom giant Nortel outsourced production of their entire product line to Huawei.[49] They subsequently outsourced much of their product engineering to Huawei as well.[50]
Another major turning point for the company came in 1996 when the government in Beijing adopted an explicit policy of supporting domestic telecommunications manufacturers and restricting access to foreign competitors. Huawei was promoted by both the government and the military as a national champion, and established new research and development offices.[44]According to the company founder Ren Zhengfei, the name Huawei comes from a slogan he saw on a wall, Zhonghua youwei meaning "China has achievements" (中华有为; Zhōng huá yǒu wéi), when he was starting up the company and needed a name.[31] Zhonghua or Hua means China,[32] while youwei means "promising/to show promise".[33][34] Huawei has also been translated as "splendid achievement" or "China is able", which are possible readings of the name.[35]
In Chinese pinyin, the name is Huáwéi,[36] and pronounced [xwǎwěɪ] in Mandarin Chinese; in Cantonese, the name is transliterated with Jyutping as Waa4-wai4 and pronounced [wa˩wɐj˩]. However, the pronunciation of Huawei by non-Chinese varies in other countries, for example "Hoe-ah-wei" in Belgium and the Netherlands.[37]
The company had considered changing the name in English out of concern that non-Chinese people may find it hard to pronounce,[38] but decided to keep the name, and launched a brand recognition campaign instead to encourage a pronunciation closer to "Wah-Way" using the words "Wow Way".[39][40] Ren states, "We will not change the name of our brand and will teach foreigners how to pronounce it. We have to make sure they do not pronounce it like 'Hawaii.'"[5]: 85