HI-TECH AND EYE-CATCHING: A model shows off a Huawei tablet at the 2012 Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies in Japan on October 2, 2012 (FENG WUYONG)

Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, was recently chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Ironically enough, his company Huawei, the world's second largest telecoms equipment maker and third largest smartphone vendor, is less recognized in the United States, the world's largest telecom market.

After years of seeking entry into the U.S. market as a leading telecom network equipment supplier, Huawei only found itself rebuffed over alleged "national security concerns."

Some foreign media reported that Eric Xu, Senior Vice President and one of the three men who jointly run the company as rotating chief executives, said the company was not interested in the U.S. market any more.

However, Huawei refuted those reports by telling Beijing Review that Xu's words were misunderstood and Huawei doesn't intend to abandon the U.S. market.

What about the U.S. market?

Over the past decade, Huawei has grabbed a dominant share of many segments of the global telecom market by displacing many rivals such as Nortel, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks, to become the second largest by revenue and is breathing down the neck of industry leader Ericsson.

The company now provides products and services to 45 of the 50 top operators in the world. However, the vast U.S. market seems to be a place beyond reach. Huawei managed to ramp up revenues in the market from just $51 million in 2006 to $1.34 billion in 2011, but the growth curve has flattened out since then. The company says its 2012 Americas revenue grew only 4.3 percent, the slowest among all regions.

Huawei has failed to ink any contracts with first-tier operators in the United States, a result of U.S. government intervention. Back in 2008, the company canceled a bid for the U.S. technology company 3Com, failing to obtain regulatory approval from Washington.

In 2010, Huawei bid for a multibillion-dollar contract to supply network infrastructure to Sprint Nextel, one of the top U.S. operators, but lost the bid after the U.S. Government again intervened.

On October 8, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee issued a report alleging that Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom company, posed a possible threat to U.S. national security. Committee Chairman Mike Rogers urged the U.S. Government and the private sector to boycott the two companies.

Because of these setbacks, the company has turned to the promising and more lucrative U.S. smartphone market where political interference is less. In 2010 and 2011, Huawei's consumer business in the United States grew by over 100 percent, the company told Beijing Review. The company recently launched a number of smartphone models in the United States, including the Huawei Premia 4G, an LTE smartphone.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, told CNN in an interview that the company is committed to growing inside the U.S. smartphone market. "Gradually, step by step, more and more people will trust Huawei," Yu said. "I think with a brand, the most important thing is trust."