University of California Restrictions for New Research Collaboration with Huawei

Dear Colleagues:

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice issued two indictments against Huawei, a top Chinese telecommunications company for stealing trade secrets, bank fraud, money laundering and sanction violations. Additionally, the government views engagement with Huawei as a broader national security threat and has placed the company on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List.

Based on these actions and upon careful internal review, the University of California has established a system-wide moratorium for engagement, gifts, agreements and other support from Huawei. This includes the following restrictions to manage any potential risks associated with engagement with Huawei and its U.S. subsidiary:

  1. UC will not accept new engagements or renew existing engagements with Huawei, including purchases of equipment or devices, receiving research grants or contracts, accepting gifts, entering into MOUs, membership or consortium agreements, technology transfers or licensing of UC IP, or exchanging any technical information with Huawei.
  2. UC will cease any pending projects, gifts, purchases or engagements with Huawei that have not yet been funded or executed.
  3. All existing agreements should wind down based on best practices outlined in the moratorium.

UC campuses can continue to receive support and engage in research and other collaborations with Futurewei, the entity’s U.S. subsidiary; however, such funding will be considered by the University based on a risk-benefit analysis.

At this time, there are no Huawei-funded projects at the UCI. While UCI promotes the exchange of ideas and collaboration between research and academic institutions in the United States and foreign countries for continued global partnerships, we also need to equally recognize the risks imposed and the realities of a potential security threat outlined by the U.S. Government.

The Office of Research continuously works with UCOP and other UC campuses to provide comprehensive guidance related to Huawei. If you have any questions, please contact Nadia Wong, Research Compliance & Outreach Manager at nadiaw@uci.edu or Amy Green, Research Compliance & Policy Administrator at acgreen1@uci.edu.

Sincerely,

Pramod Khargonekar, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research
Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

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