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If Donald Trump kills off Chinese firm Huawei, do Asia’s 5G dreams die?
- Until the US-China trade war turned nasty, the Chinese telecoms giant had been the region’s 5G developer of choice
- Now its US ban has thrown those plans into chaos
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When it comes to the roll-out of next-generation 5G cellular technology, few regions in the world could be as excited as Southeast Asia, a region famed for intensive smartphone use.
But this week’s dramatic escalation in the United States’ crackdown on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has been a cold shower for those anticipating the mass-market arrival of a technology hyped as heralding a new dawn of driverless cars and artificial intelligence.
Just weeks ago, Huawei had seemed assured of playing a key part in the roll-out of 5G technology across the region; now some industry insiders say the Chinese behemoth has no clear way of continuing as a central player anywhere in the world.
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That in turn has left a question mark over when Southeast Asia’s avid smartphone users can expect to reap the benefit of a development that promises download speeds of up to 100 times faster than its 4G predecessor.
The US Commerce Department’s inclusion of Huawei on its Entity List means that not only are US firms barred from using its equipment, they are also barred from selling to the Chinese firm – a move that could cripple the company because it relies on Western parts, such as chips.
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Despite the administration of Donald Trump subsequently offering Huawei a three-month reprieve – allowing it to continue purchasing US equipment until mid-August – analysts like Paul Triolo are already mulling the longer term consequences.
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