- Slightly Smarter
- Posts
- House of Huawei
House of Huawei
The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company by Eva Dou
In partnership with
Learn AI in 5 minutes a day
This is the easiest way for a busy person wanting to learn AI in as little time as possible:
Sign up for The Rundown AI newsletter
They send you 5-minute email updates on the latest AI news and how to use it
You learn how to become 2x more productive by leveraging AI
“The goal of this project was to chronicle the historic path of the most successful company in China's modern history, Huawei Technologies, in the belief that it could contribute to the conversation about how we arrived at this current moment in history—and what comes next.”
— Eva Dou, House of Huawei
In House of Huawei, journalist Eva Dou pulls back the curtain on the world’s most controversial tech giant. What started as a scrappy telecom upstart in southern China became a global powerhouse—one that’s now at the center of a high-stakes standoff between East and West.
SMARTEST TAKEAWAYS
How Tech and Politics Collide
1️⃣ The Founder’s Vision: Ren Zhengfei, a former People’s Liberation Army engineer, built Huawei with a mix of military discipline and entrepreneurial daring. His story is one of relentless ambition, navigating China’s shifting political tides to create a company that would become a symbol of national pride—and suspicion abroad.
2️⃣ Surveillance and Statecraft: Huawei’s rise isn’t just about business. The company’s deep ties to the Chinese government—and its role in building surveillance infrastructure—raise big questions about privacy, power, and the future of global technology. Dou’s reporting shows how, in China, business and government are often inseparable.
3️⃣ A Global Flashpoint: The 2018 detention of Meng Wanzhou, Ren’s daughter and Huawei’s CFO, turned a corporate rivalry into an international incident. Suddenly, Huawei was no longer just a company—it was a symbol of the new tech Cold War, with governments worldwide rethinking what “national security” means in a digital age.
Eva Dou is The Washington Post‘s China business and economy correspondent. A Detroit native, she previously spent seven years reporting on politics and technology for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing and Taipei, Taiwan.
INSIGHTFUL EXAMPLE
When Business Becomes Geopolitical
Imagine building a company so influential that its executives become pawns in a global chess match. That’s what happened when Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada, igniting a diplomatic firestorm and putting Huawei at the heart of the US-China trade war. The book reveals how Huawei’s story is really the story of our interconnected, uneasy world—where technology, politics, and personal ambition are impossible to untangle.
BOOK FACTS
House of Huawei
First Published: January 14, 2025
Print length: 448 pages
Listening length: 11:40
Ratings: 4.1 Amazon, 4.0 Goodreads
BOOK TV
Eva Dou Discussing Her Book
Help Us Get Slightly SmarterHow did you like today's email? |