The American-led campaign against Huawei hung over the giant tech conference in Barcelona. But most attendees were focused instead on new mobile phones and ultrafast wireless networks.
BARCELONA, Spain — The Trump administration sent a delegation to Spain this week to make its case against the Chinese technology company Huawei at one of the world’s biggest tech trade shows.
But the event, called MWC Barcelona, ended up being favorable ground for the Chinese maker of telecom equipment.
Of the more than 100,000 attendees and 2,400 companies at the event, most ignored the efforts by the United States to impose a ban against Huawei for security and surveillance risks.
Instead, they chose to focus on the coming introduction of long-hyped next-generation wireless networks, known as 5G, not to mention new foldable smartphones, robots and other internet-connected devices.
For Huawei, the enormous conference provided a much-needed opportunity to make a show of force after months of being on the defensive about the American-led campaign.
The company, accused of being an instrument of spying for the Chinese government, was ubiquitous in Barcelona. Huawei had the biggest and most popular booth, which looked like a sprawling indoor city that took up half of a convention hall. The booth featured a demonstration area for its new smartphones, an Instagram-ready digital pond, and a roaming robot. Its outdoor picnic area was catered with Iberian ham, Chinese meat buns, fresh fish and Mediterranean salads.
Even the lanyards worn by conference attendees were Huawei-branded.
MWC Barcelona is akin in scope and hype to the annual CES show in Las Vegas, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics events. MWC Barcelona fills eight conference halls with loud, sensory-overloading booths from companies including Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, Microsoft, Nokia and Ericsson.
