Wolf culture, state finance and bribery: Huawei's rise to the top wasn't pretty

Huawei is one of the biggest and most controversial tech companies on the planet. Its products are at the heart of a clash between the United States and China that is straining longstanding alliances and may define the future of the internet. The company started out small, selling cheap telephone switches in the 1980s in rural China. The story of how it grew into a business with annual revenue of more than $100 billion is one of naked ambition, government support and questionable business tactics.

Huawei is now battling a US campaign that aims to shut the Chinese company's equipment out of the next generation of wireless networks, known as 5G. Ultra-fast 5G networks will be used to connect everything from mobile phones to self-driving cars.

Read more