Huawei Purchased Facial Recognition Technology from Russian Firm

According to Russian state media Sputnik, Huawei has now completed the acquisition of a Moscow security technology company called Vokord. The acquisition cost $50 million, mainly for the company’s technical patents and talents in facial recognition.

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It is reported that the transaction was completed in May this year through the Moscow company named “Igl SoftLab”. The company is jointly owned by the Russian subsidiary of China Huawei Technologies and Huawei Digital Technology (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. Insider say that the total transaction amounted to $40 to 50 million dollars.

A representative of Huawei confirmed to the Moscow News that the company’s Russian subsidiary and its Hong Kong subsidiary became co-owners of Igl SoftLab, but the details of the transaction were not disclosed. It is reported that Vokord not only sold its patent to Igl SoftLab, but also took most of its staff with it. An expert stressed during an interview that China has generated the craze for facial recognition systems, and innovation projects like this in Russia are tens of times cheaper than in the United States.

Founded in 1999, the company is made up of over 120 people, over 80% of employees are mathematicians, developers and engineers. Vocord conducts developments in the field of the video analysis: machine vision and face recognition, and holds 11 facility patents and 6 software patents. With the project of the 3D system – sight and face recognition, Vokord became the resident of Skolkovo Foundation.

Huawei already has its own face recognition algorithm, but expert say that the tech giant might be interested in the HD cameras with “smart” functions developed by the Russian company.

Featured photo credit to © REUTERS / Jason Lee