SANTA CLARA, Calif.  This spring, an executive from a Chinese telecommunications equipment company made an intriguing job offer to a Silicon Valley software engineer. The Chinese company, Huawei Technologies, wanted to get into the booming market for Internet-based computing, and it had just moved its United States research headquarters here to capture some of the best local talent.

“How many engineers would you like for your team? Several hundred? That’s not a problem,” the recruiter said, according to the engineer.

When the software manager turned down the offer, the Chinese executive was undeterred and asked for the name of the engineer working under him.

The exchange underscores Huawei’s bold entrance onto the world’s technology stage. In the span of a decade, it has gone from imitating others’ products to taking on international rivals with its own innovative computing and communications gear. But Huawei has largely been locked out of the United States  until now.