Enterprise

Huawei secretly worked with North Korea on spying tech

Here we go again

Published

July 23, 2019

Luigi Leonardo

In the 2014 film The Interview, director Seth Rogen depicted North Korea as a backwards country incapable of basic human rights. The Hollywood depiction echoed the political sentiments of the present age — that North Korea falls behind most nations on several levels. Prejudices can, of course, be deceiving. According to a new report, North Korea isn’t the backwards country that everyone thinks it is.

Apparently, North Korea received invaluable help from outside technology — Huawei. As reported by The Washington Post, Huawei has secretly worked with the North Korean government for the latter’s wireless communications technology. Partnered with China-based Panda International, Huawei has engaged in North Korean business deals for at least eight years.

In 2008, then-leader Kim Jong Il discretely struck a deal with Huawei. The latter would help establish the North Korean telecommunications provider, Koryolink. Huawei became the country’s main provider for technology. The company even shipped employees to North Korea, establishing an inconspicuous office at a local hotel.

According to a telling internal document, Huawei’s assistance went beyond mere technology providing services. In 2008, North Korea asked Huawei for a spying algorithm; to which, the latter agreed. Huawei created an encrypted algorithm that allowed the government to intercept and monitor all calls made using Koryolink.

Huawei’s involvement went through all the protocols of secrecy. Internally, they struck all mentions of North Korea, hiding behind codes. (For example, “Country A9” would refer to North Korea.) Naturally, when America cracked down on North Korea in 2016, Huawei withdrew from all its North Korean offices, leaving current business deals hanging.

Huawei’s current troubles stem from its alleged involvements with blacklisted countries. Before its recent obsession with cybersecurity, the American government sought sanctions against Huawei for dealing with Iran and North Korea. The government, however, could never pin anything conclusive against the company. The recent ban stems from a different concern.

Of course, this latest report is a huge monkey wrench in the geopolitical machine. Both China-US and North Korea-US relations are already tense. Huawei’s North Korean involvement can potentially cause ripples throughout both fronts. For one, Trump already relinquished his iron grasp on Huawei recently. Will his tone change after today’s report? Will we see Huawei banned again? The Huawei saga continues.

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

Published

June 19, 2026

MJ Jucutan

In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

Enterprise

Global Connect Show Shenzhen empowers Chinese enterprises

Opportune time for new Chinese enterprises to go global

Published

June 2, 2026

GadgetMatch

The Global Connect Show Shenzhen 2026 (GCS SZ 2026) was successfully held on June 1 at China’s innovation hub.

More than 100 Chinese enterprises joined the event, encouraged to expand into international markets.

The program focused on three core pillars:

Chinese brand going global
Global channel connection
Dedicated “Into the Enterprise” series

China has developed a new generation of internationally competitive companies across various sectors, including:

consumer electronics
smart hardware
artificial intelligence
robotics

As these companies enter a new phase of going global, demand is growing for global communications, brand building, market trust, and localized business networks.

As such, the Global Connect Show is one of the platforms to be able to strengthen the relationship across enterprises, partners, business associations, and even media and influencers.

It is a significant window for innovative brands to enter global retail channels by building compelling brand narratives and developing strong localized operations.

This year’s GCS is the third staging of the show, which consistently aims to match Chinese brands with partners through a results-first approach. Such an approach includes hands-on product experiences, presentations, and one-on-one meetings.

Enterprise

New US-China ban might affect 75% of phones, laptops

Companies can no longer use Chinese labs to test their products.

Published

May 5, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The United States is continuing its crusade against Chinese technology today. However, the target now isn’t a company from China but a method important to a lot of non-Chinese brands.

Today, via Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) has unanimously voted to prohibit companies from using Chinese labs to test their electronic devices if they are to be sold for use in the United States. Naturally, this includes smartphones and computers.

Notably, the prohibition doesn’t directly target Chinese brands. However, it will still affect a huge swath of the industry. The FCC estimates that around 75 percent of the entire market are devices tested in labs based in China.

This means that companies who wish to sell future products in the country must move their testing to labs in the United States or other countries that it deems secure. At its current iteration, the prohibition will not affect devices that already earned their certification prior. However, it might prevent them from getting recertified once their current one expires.

Now, the prohibition isn’t an absolute lock just yet. The FCC will allow the industry to submit comments about the proposal. But, with a unanimous vote from the FCC, companies might have to start looking for alternative testing sites if they want to stay operation in the United States.