Despite Huawei’s big setbacks in the global smartphone market in 2020, China’s determination to dominate fifth generation, or 5G, broadband technology has not abated.
In recent years, Huawei boasted it would displace Samsung and Apple as the world’s biggest mobile device supplier. It also harbored huge ambitions for dissemination of its networking equipment. This year, its boasts rang hollow, as one country after another imposed sharp national security restrictions that cratered the importation and use of Huawei’s 5G networking equipment and mobile devices. None of this should come as a surprise.
The Chinese government’s “Made in China 2025” plan spells out in unambiguous language the country’s commitment to dominating all sectors regarded as strategically important in the 21st century, such as artificial intelligence, 5G and robotics. Basically, success by any means underpins China’s plans, especially when it comes to 5G broadband.
The Chinese know 5G technology is not an incremental step. It is an actual “great leap forward.” The vision of driverless vehicles, remote surgery, and the Internet of Things is becoming closer to reality, as companies vie to create the infrastructure and devices that can connect billions of people in real time. The stakes for companies in the 5G race are as enormous as the benefits to daily life in a 5G world are unlimited.
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