Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of telecommunications equipment, particularly of the next-generation wireless networking service known as 5G. It also recently overtook Apple to become the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker by units sold, behind Samsung Electronics Co. Its handsets are sleek, armed with a powerful camera and run on the Android operating system. The Android OS and Apple’s iOS command virtually 100% of global market share. About 60% of Huawei’s devices are sold outside of China.
Despite assertions otherwise, the US blacklisting of Huawei Technologies looks aimed at crippling its business. But in this age of globalised business, it could backfire.
SINGAPORE (May 27): Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies has become a proxy in the trade war between the US and China. But Washington’s latest salvo could invite detrimental consequences. Given that China commands much of the global technology supply chain — from raw materials to component manufacturing and final assembly — if Beijing decides to retaliate by, say, barring exports of rare earth minerals or taking over mobile phone factories, much of the world’s progress in technology development would grind to a halt.
