It’s the world’s third largest smartphone-maker, churning out cut-price mobiles and tablet computers that have taken the global telecoms industry by storm.
What’s more, it installed much of the national network that carries many of Britain’s phone calls.
So it may seem odd that few people have heard of Huawei – and fewer still know how to say it.
However, that could soon change for the Chinese titan (which is pronounced hoo-wah-way).
Huawei is paid by telecoms operators around the globe, such as Vodafone and O2’s parent company Telefonica, to instal the infrastructure that makes up the national grid of the mobile world.
It’s certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Around 3billion people – or almost half the world’s population – use its products, it has operations in 140 countries and it employs more than 150,000 people.
To some, though, it is known for all the wrong reasons – its founder, Ren Zhengfei, is a former member of the People’s Liberation Army who has been called ‘the world’s most controversial businessman’ by Time magazine, while the US has accused the firm of spying.
In Britain – where its customers include BT, Orange, TalkTalk and T-Mobile owner EE – it has set up a secure base in Banbury, Oxfordshire, where it allows Government scientists to examine every piece of its kit installed in this country to allay security concerns.
Competitors such as Ericsson and Nokia do not have to follow the same procedure.
The US government has gone further, calling on firms to blacklist the group over fears the Chinese government could break into Huawei’s network for espionage.