Huawei shelves Cambridge campus plans

HUAWEI has quietly shelved plans for a £1bn Cambridge research campus as the embattled Chinese telecoms giant winds down its UK presence.

Huawei had planned to build cuttingedge facilities that would have been used to develop broadband technologies, microchips and artificial intelligence software on the 500 acre site, near the “Silicon Fen” hub.

However, ground has still not been broken at the site despite a pledge to finish the first phase of construction by 2021. The Sunday Telegraph can disclose that the scheme has been “under review” since the pandemic.

South Cambridgeshire councillors say their requests for information have been met with silence and planning permission for the site is now set to expire in a little over five months.

The apparent mothballing of the project comes after the Government banned Huawei’s equipment from large swathes of Britain’s mobile and broadband networks over security concerns.

Huawei bought the Cambridge site for £37m in 2018 and gained planning permission in 2020. Brian Milnes, a councillor for the Sawston area, where Huawei’s campus was planned, said the company had “gone very quiet” about the scheme despite repeated attempts by himself and others to contact company representatives.

Huawei said its review of the Cambridge campus was “ongoing” but declined to say whether it intends to begin work within the next five months.

A spokesman added: “We are aware of the status of the planning application, which we placed under internal review during the pandemic.”