MADRID: In a move that has sparked concern among cybersecurity experts and law enforcement circles, the Spanish government has awarded contracts worth €12.3 million to Huawei, the Chinese tech conglomerate, to store and manage judicially ordered police wiretaps. The decision, made by Spain’s Ministry of the Interior, involves the use of Huawei’s OceanStor 6800 V5 data storage systems for archiving sensitive legal intercepts—despite growing warnings from NATO allies over Huawei’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The contract, part of Spain’s centralized procurement framework between 2021 and 2025, places the custody of police surveillance data in the hands of a company banned from critical infrastructure in multiple Western countries. The OceanStor system is a high-performance enterprise-grade storage solution already used in various countries across Africa and Eastern Europe due to its competitive cost. However, its manufacturer’s geopolitical affiliations have long been a matter of international concern.
Huawei’s involvement in Spanish law enforcement systems is not new. The company has supported Spain’s SITEL system—used for legal surveillance—since previous administrations. However, recent revelations have intensified debate about the strategic prudence of continuing to rely on a supplier flagged as high-risk by U.S. and EU intelligence agencies.
Internal sources from the Spanish National Police and the Civil Guard have expressed unease. “We are being asked to secure sensitive operations using systems that are not trusted by most of our allies,” one officer told The Objective which reported the story. Another warned that Spain’s reliance on Huawei represents a “blind spot” in the country’s national cybersecurity strategy.
The controversy is further compounded by political ties. Former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reportedly played a role in securing Huawei’s earlier entry into Spain’s law enforcement technology infrastructure—even before the company had obtained national intelligence certification. Current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has maintained a more conciliatory tone towards China, distinguishing himself from the harder stance adopted by Brussels and key NATO partners visiting China while everyone was avoiding Beijing.
Huawei has consistently denied any involvement in espionage or unauthorized data access. Company spokespeople insist that the firm has no access to the content stored on its servers, and that any system—regardless of manufacturer—can be secured through proper encryption and regulation.
Nevertheless, Washington and the European Commission have taken a far stricter approach. The U.S. maintains a blanket ban on Huawei’s participation in telecom networks, while the European Commission in 2020 recommended that member states exclude high-risk vendors from 5G deployment and other critical systems. Countries such as Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK have since implemented bans or strict limitations.
In Spain, however, such restrictions have not been applied to data storage infrastructure, allowing Huawei to retain a foothold in one of the most sensitive corners of public administration: the storage of intercepted communications from police and intelligence operations.
This discrepancy between EU security recommendations and Spain’s procurement practices has raised broader questions about the coherence of the EU’s collective digital defense. As Huawei opens more innovation hubs in Spain and expands its role in public IT contracts, critics argue that Europe’s internal contradictions are undermining the credibility of its digital sovereignty agenda.
While some governments move to protect their networks from foreign interference, Spain continues to outsource its most sensitive surveillance data to a company widely viewed with suspicion by its closest allies. As the cybersecurity landscape evolves and threats become more sophisticated, this decision could have lasting implications—not just for Spain, but for the entire European Union’s collective security posture.
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