US lawmakers' suspicion of Chinese vendor Huawei appears to have caused more flow-on effects for the Chinese vendor – the sentiment is thought to be behind Symantec's move to exit the Huawei-Symantec JV.
Symantec has revealed plans to sell its 49% stake in Huawei Symantec to its JV partner for $530 million The JV was founded in 2008 to develop and sell security, storage and systems management products.
Commenting on the planned sale, Symantec CEO Enrique Salem said the company had “achieved the objectives we set four years ago and exit the joint venture with a good return on our investment.”
But sources close to the deal told the New York Times that Symantec had decided to exit the JV because of concerns it could prevent it from gaining access to classified US government information about cyberthreats.
The Department of Homeland Security is thought to be preparing a trial program to share some such information with private entities such as internet security companies, in a bid to bolster cybersecurity.
The sources claimed that Symantec was worried its relationship with Huawei could lead to security agencies excluding the company from the program.
They also said that Huawei plans to move the Huawei Symantec venture out of the US once it assumes full ownership.