As attempts by the United States to weaken China's dominance in the telecommunications network ecosystem are expected to intensify under the Trump 2.0 administration, there are analyses suggesting a more proactive support for strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic network equipment industry.
A report on 'Telecommunications Network Strategy in the Trump 2.0 Era' from the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Policy (KISDI) on the 21st projected that the United States would strengthen its policy of excluding China under the premise that it cannot guarantee national security if the China-centric telecommunications network ecosystem does not change. The report noted, 'These attempts began during the Trump 1.0 administration's 5G telecommunications period and have continued into the Biden administration, but so far, they have not been deemed successful. Accordingly, the U.S. is trying to intervene actively from the design stage of 6G.'
The reasons why the U.S. attempts to increase its influence in the telecommunications equipment market have hit a wall include the still-high market share of Chinese corporations in telecommunications equipment and the fact that the U.S. lacks its own technological capabilities. Despite the U.S. trying to expel Chinese corporations from the telecommunications network industry for several years, a survey by market research firm Omdia found that as of the end of 2023, Huawei maintained its first-place position with a market share of 31.3% in the local area network equipment market.
The second place is occupied by Sweden's Ericsson (24.3%), third place by Finland's Nokia (19.5%), and fourth place by China's ZTE (13.9%), with the combined market share of Chinese companies in first and fourth places nearing half. The domestic firm Samsung Electronics recorded a market share of 6.1%, placing fifth.
The report warned that 'due to the ecosystem structure, which makes it very difficult to exclude China's influence, there is a high possibility that the U.S. government will respond with a strong separation policy unless U.S.-China relations improve,' adding that 'if our country does not possess enough competitiveness to be among the (U.S.) consolidation targets, it will inevitably be dependent in a bifurcated ecosystem.'
The report further advised that 'direct support for strengthening the domestic telecommunications equipment industry ecosystem and a review of policy measures to enhance the utilization of domestic products are necessary.' It also emphasized that if U.S.-China conflicts escalate, it is difficult to rule out the possibility of separate standardization efforts from the U.S. and China in the 6G standardization process, stressing that we need to have strong technological capabilities to contribute to the standards.