It's simpler than that. The Chinese Development Bank offered very generous credit to Huawei in a time where the West was letting some of it's most innovative companies collapse or languish (the 2008 financial crisis). Nortel was the main reason this all happened. They were the ones that were doing all the cutting edge wireless network research and when they collapsed Huawei was the one that executed the best in the wake of said collapse.
Say what you will about Chinese companies but damn some of them execute well.
Nortel was the main reason this all happened.
They were the ones that were doing all the cutting
edge wireless network research and when they
collapsed Huawei was the one that executed the
best in the wake of said collapse.
Err ... not sure if you're aware, but it's common knowledge that Nortel's sensitive IP was hacked by the Chinese.
In fact it went on over almost a full decade, from the late 1990's to 2009 when it was brought widely to light. [1]
Say what you will about Chinese companies but
damn some of them execute well.
Well, I mean, especially the ones benefiting from nation-state level corporate espionage.
Of course empires stealing tech from each other has happened many times historically; we don't have to all act shocked that it can happen.
But neither is it irrelevant that it did, in fact, happen, and specifically in the case that you mention of Nortel and Huawei.
It's definitely not just a simple case of "generous credit", though the wider point about Western governments not supporting their core digital infrastructure companies in strategic ways during those years is certainly correct.
Say what you will about Chinese companies but damn some of them execute well.