International Pressure Builds Against Huawei

Huawei is fighting back. This decision is both arbitrary and pernicious. That video released in May, shortly after the Trump administration announced new sanctions prohibiting Huawei from using chips made using U .S. equipment. A blow that's left a Chinese company scrambling to replace the key silicon found in most of its flagship products. All of these companies are involved in etiquette. it's messier, it will affect much more than 5G. It's clear this isn't about sanctioning one company, but rather a bid to decouple China's supply chain. A push gaining momentum across the West amid heightened tensions over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. And if successful, the move could put China's leadership in smart city development at risk. China is not gonna allow our way to fail. We first explored this topic in November 2019. six months after the United States placed Huawei on a trade blacklist. At the time, Huawei's Edwin Dunder dismissed claims that the United States sanctions were taking a toll. It helped us to create our own mobile platform faster than we already were doing. It helped us to be more prone to risks. But some risks are harder to overcome than others, and experts agree that the latest U .S. sanctions put Huawei's survival at stake. The design of the chips is not action. critical issue they're perfectly capable of doing that it's making them previously huawei was able to go through foreign manufacturers to get the chips it needed that loophole is now cut off plus the us has announced that tsmc will open a factory in arizona another signal that the united states is trying to pull high -end chip manufacturing from china's reach and the impacts are expected to trickle down to the smart city market the issue is not necessarily manufacturing stuff for smart cities but selling it particularly particularly given the increasing sensitivity to having Chinese technology present in communication networks where data is being transferred. The UK is the latest to voice that concern. Many may be recalibrating their views on China. Backlash associated with COVID -19 has the UK now reviewing its relationship with Huawei and reports suggest it could result in the reduction or elimination of Huawei's role in its 5G networks, a move under pressure. by the United States Britain can join the United States and other powerful free nations and work together on a 5G solution. Yet there's no denying that Huawei is vital in the development of technology and the US Commerce Department recognizes that. In June, about a month after the latest sanctions were announced, the US put forward a new rule that allows American companies to develop technology standards with Huawei, not just in 5G, but in all areas of emerging technologies. It's a significant move because it means American firms will have a seat at the table in the formation of how critical technologies work and share information on best practices, something that's not happening today in the smart city space. There is a lot of activity in smart cities in China, but now these are completely separate from the Western world, right? So now we have two evolution paths. So instead of, you know, sharing these findings. globally and sharing best practice from one smart city to the other, these two are completely separate, right? A report by the U.S. government highlights China's leadership in smart cities, where their development is part of a national strategy, as seen in China's massive investment into nearly 800 smart city pilot projects that have totaled an estimated $140 billion. The report finds that the U.S. heavily relies on China for components used in smart city Chinese exports of production meters, for example, increased from $626 million in 2014 to more than $842 million in 2017. Chinese companies also account for nearly 50 % of total U .S. imports of telecommunications base stations. The researchers say the growth of Chinese smart city exports presents a serious economic and security challenge to the U.S. Specifically, they cite an incident involving Huawei enterprise networking products in 2019, in which scanning software discovered over 100 vulnerabilities. It all laid the groundwork for the latest sanctions against Huawei, along with China's recent announcement that it plans to pump more than a trillion dollars into technology investments like wireless networks and AI. And China will rely on private tech giants like Huawei to bring it all to life. Once again signaling to the West China's heavy hand in Huawei's future, Huawei is an overseas national champion of the Chinese Communist Party and as a result of that unfortunately as a result of that association it seems unfortunate for Huawei that they've become a pawn in the game between the United States and China in terms of a trade deal trade war technology war so on and so forth the critical point though is that this is causing a lot of confusion and in the investment domain, right? So a chief technology officer will not sign a multi -billion dollar contract with Huawei until the situation is resolved. Now reports say Huawei has stockpiled up to two years worth of chips to shield its operation from the most recent crackdown. But analysts say those chips won't keep Huawei competitive in the future since they can't be updated to feature the latest technologies. 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