How Huawei is winning the race for global 5G telecom dominance: US firms didn't even show up

Quick Overview

Huawei is winning the global 5G race due to China's aggressive, state-backed infrastructure strategy, resulting in 4.19 million 5G base stations by 2024 compared to the US's 270,000, and securing major contracts like the recent deals in Vietnam despite US sanctions, which have ironically helped Huawei become more innovative and independent.

Key Points: China plans to have an extraordinary 4.19 million 5G base stations by 2024, compared to the US's 270,000, representing a 15.5 times advantage in infrastructure deployment. Huawei and ZTE recently secured 5G supply deals in Vietnam worth over $20 million, following the announcement of US tariffs on Vietnamese goods, demonstrating continued success abroad. The US approach focused on spectrum allocation and regulatory framework development for private sector deployment, contrasting with China's state-prioritized infrastructure development as a national economic strategy. As of September 2025, over 3.2 billion people outside China reside in countries using 5G networks relying on Huawei equipment. In 2021, Chinese companies accounted for 70% of all global 5G base stations, a position they have maintained and strengthened. Huawei/ZTE hold a combined 41% share of the global 5G equipment market, while US companies have 0% market share. US export controls intended to choke Huawei's supply chain have instead forced the company to become more innovative and build an ecosystem entirely independent from US technologies.

Context: This video segment from 'Inside China Business' analyzes the state of the global 5G technology competition between China and the United States, focusing heavily on Huawei's market dominance despite US sanctions. The context is set against the backdrop of the two superpowers pursuing dramatically different strategies for 5G supremacy, with China treating 5G buildout as a national economic stimulus and the US focusing on regulatory framework development.

Detailed Analysis

The video asserts that Huawei is winning the global race for 5G dominance due to China's proactive, state-driven infrastructure strategy, contrasting sharply with the US approach. China prioritized 5G buildout as a national economic strategy, treating it as an economic stimulus during the COVID pandemic, leading to an extraordinary deployment of 4.19 million 5G base stations by 2024, compared to only 270,000 in the United States—a 15.5 times advantage. This infrastructure lead is further supported by China's massive infrastructure investment of $800 billion (2015-2025) versus the US's $430 billion. Furthermore, Chinese companies (Huawei + ZTE) command 41% of the global 5G equipment market share, while US companies hold 0%. Despite US efforts, including sanctions dating back to December 2017, Huawei and ZTE recently sealed major 5G supply deals in Vietnam, even after the White House announced tariffs on Vietnamese goods. As of September 2025, over 3.2 billion people outside China rely on Huawei equipment for their 5G networks. The presenter concludes that the US strategy, focused on spectrum allocation and regulatory framework development, has failed to keep pace, and the sanctions appear to have backfired by spurring Huawei to build an ecosystem entirely independent of US technology.