Chinese Huawei recently announced that the company will establish a new network equipment factory for over 200 million euros (US$ 243.9 million; US$1 = 0.82 euro) in France, the Commercial Times reported on December 23. Located in eastern France and near the border with Germany, this new facility - Huawei’s first outside China - will produce 1 billion euros (US$1.22 billion) of 5G network equipment annually for Huawei’s European clients and initially employ 300 people and up to 500 in the long run. Thus far, Huawei has 23 R&D centers, more than 100 academic partners, over 3,100 suppliers, and a solid supply chain in Europe.
Although France has not yet banned telecom operators from using Huawei gear immediately, the authorities, however, told their plan to gradually phase Huawei out of the French mobile networks by not renewing licenses for the gear once expired.
On top of that, Taiwan’s Foxconn has been a major 5G network equipment supplier for Huawei, accounting for nearly 50% of Taiwan’s total shipments. Shipment value of Taiwan's 5G CPE is estimated at US$215 million in 2020 and grow to US$546 million in 2021, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a major government think tank in Taiwan and a leading research institute in Asia.