PTC CEO: U.S. Blocking Huawei As A Customer Doesn't Do Any Good

PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann said the U.S. blocking Chinese telecom giant Huawei from buying the company's software doesn't accomplish anything and hopes the issue will be resolved.

Heppelmann made the comments during a question-and-answer session on Tuesday with media and analysts at the Boston-based industrial software company's annual LiveWorx event in the city.

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Multiple U.S. tech companies have suspended business with Huawei after the U.S. Commerce Department in May blacklisted the embattled Chinese company from buying technology from U.S. companies over national security concerns.

At LiveWorx, Heppelmann described Huawei as a "big customer" but didn't disclose how much revenue it brings in from the Chinese company.

"My perspective is let's be patient," he said of the company's blacklisting, adding that President Trump has a "very strange negotiation style" where he punches first and then talks. "I don’t think this situation will end where it is today, but I'm not precisely sure where it will end," he added.

Trump on Monday called Huawei a national security threat — reflecting the U.S. government's continued escalations against the company — but also said that the issue could be resolved through the country's ongoing trade negotiations with China.

Heppelmann said Huawei uses PTC's computer-aided design, product lifecycle management, Internet of Things and augmented reality software and that if Huawei's blacklisting continues for too long, it's possible Huawei or another company in China could develop its own solutions.

"I don’t really think that preventing Huawei from using PTC software accomplishes anything meaningful for anybody, to be frank," the CEO said.

Heppelmann said China has been an important country for PTC's business, having sold software there for 26 years, and that he hopes the company can continue to do so.

"I think we need to be patient, because this is not the final stage," he said. "This is an interim phase toward some final stage that I can't describe or predict."