Op-ed: Trump’s campaign against Huawei, Chinese tech will backfire

Most importantly, the administration’s campaign against Chinese tech may prevent the U.S. from accomplishing what claims to be its true objective: establishing a leading position in 5G and building on that lead in the future.

An opportunity to achieve this goal was presented to the U.S. government last year, when Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei offered to license the company’s 5G technology to one or more U.S. companies. American license-holders would then have access to Huawei’s entire 5G patent portfolio, including software source code, hardware designs, and technologies related to manufacturing, network planning, and testing. The license-holder could manufacture and operate leading-edge 5G networks with no security concerns; the U.S. government could appoint any U.S. company willing to take on the challenge.

 Granted, the Administration has other options. It could acquire a controlling stake in either one or both of Huawei’s main competitors in the network equipment business, Ericsson or Nokia, as was suggested by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. It could nationalize America’s 5G networks, as was reportedly considered by U.S national security officials in 2018. Huawei’s offer presents a less interventionist option with the same level of flexibility, security and accountability.

 America’s current 5G effort relies almost entirely on just two vendors, Ericsson and Nokia, as the U.S. companies that once dominated the market for telecoms equipment left the business years ago.

Licensing Huawei’s portfolio would jump-start 5G deployment in America and get the U.S. on a fast track to 5G leadership. Accelerating 5G connectivity would allow U.S. industries to take full advantage of the transformative capabilities that 5G and artificial intelligence will have on industries. This will provide a much-needed economic boost in the wake of the pandemic. 

Perhaps even more importantly, rapid 5G adoption could serve as an incubator for future generations of wireless tech: 6G is expected to be commercialized around 2030.

For the U.S. telecommunications industry, Huawei’s offer represents a potentially transformative opportunity and an economically viable shortcut to ubiquitous 5G networks that will benefit American consumers, business and industry. More than that, it is a near last-ditch effort to rescue global innovation before it succumbs to a harmful isolationism that could end U.S. tech leadership once and for all.

Paul Scanlan is Chief Technology Officer at Huawei.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/op-ed-trumps-campaign-against-huawei-chinese-tech-will-backfire.html