Queen’s University has signed three research deals with controversial Chinese tech giants, two with Huawei and one with iFlytek for a combined $1.1 million, The Logic has learned.

The university is standing behind the funding partnerships, which include artificial intelligence (AI) and speech-detection research, despite a national security warning from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) about working with Huawei. A number of U.S. universities have recently cancelled their partnerships with iFlytek over its work with Chinese police, which includes building a national database of voice patterns.