Why Huawei is US biggest competitor
What you need to know:
- The western countries did not need mobile connectivity as much as the developing countries.
- The next cycle of economic might will be extracted under the 4IR and 5G is at the heart of it.
I have been following Trump’s rantings against Huawei’s next generation communication equipment – its 5G offering.
5G is the technology that will power the next cycle of industrial revolution, now commonly as the 4th industrial revolution (4IR).
The 4IR is characterised by the convergence between the physical and cyber world made possible largely by widely available, high quality mobile internet broadband.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
With speeds hitting over 100Mbps per mobile device, new opportunities and business models suddenly become possible.
Self-driving cars, flying taxis, intelligent factories, smart cities, remote surgeries and all these seemingly futuristic activities are currently happening at experimental levels but will become widely deployed in the next three to five years.
The steam engine powered the 1st generation industrial revolution, the electric engine powered the 2nd generation industrial revolution while the personal computers and the internet powered the 3rd generation industrial revolution.
The 4th industrial revolution is powered by 5G technologies that provide ubiquitous high quality broadband that makes it possible for cloud, artificial intelligence and computing power to co-exist under one melting pot.
NEXT CYCLE
The digital dividend as provided by the 3rd industrial revolution has reached maturity and can no longer provide further competitive advantage in developed economies.
The next cycle of economic might will be extracted under the 4IR and 5G is at the heart of it.
By design or otherwise, China with its Huawei 5G communication equipment is way ahead of the competition provided by companies based in the US and Europe.
Perhaps basking in the glory of the previous successes, the western countries did not need mobile connectivity as much as the developing countries – of which China apparently belongs to.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Having fewer fixed lines in their territories, developing countries rapidly adopted mobile communications the way a malnourished child would take to the mother’s milk.
The western economies – despite having started the mobile technology revolution – were not as desperate for it and slept on the job in terms of research and development in this fast evolving area.
They now wake up to realise that China, through its flagship technology company Huawei is way ahead in terms of 5G patents, equipment and deployment.
HUAWEI RESEARCHERS
Just to give you a feel of what the US is up against, Huawei University campus in Shenzhen has over 25,000 researchers, majority being PhD holders, actively working on improving the current while creating the next generation of mobile network technologies.
One quickest way to slow down China’s first mover advantage in the 5G war is obviously to raise the security flag.
The US has claimed that Huawei’s 5G communication equipment has deliberate security hooks that the Chinese government would use to spy on western governments.
BOYCOTT CALL
It has gone further and asked its allies in Europe to boycott Huawei equipment but many have not. After all, the Huawei equipment has since inception, been checked and audited for security and safety concerns by US and European security consulting firms.
So far their verdict has been nothing to worry about.
It is an interesting trade war, this 5G technology. My fear is that the US has not only lost the 5G war, they probably have also lost the 6G one as well.
They should better reboot their systems and strategically focus on getting back into the game perhaps when the 7G technology is announced in another 10 or so years.
