America is determined to sink Huawei A new escalation in the...

America is determined to sink Huawei
A new escalation in the tech conflict illustrates the limits of American power

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. A year ago America forbade its high-tech companies from selling to Huawei, a Chinese maker of smartphones and mobile-network infrastructure. American officials worry that Huawei-powered phone networks could aid Chinese spying (something the firm denies), and about China’s growing technological prowess more generally. But the embargo turned out to be puny. Loopholes allowed American firms to carry on supplying Huawei from overseas factories. The Chinese firm’s revenues rose by 19% in 2019, to $123bn. Thanks to its efforts to stockpile parts, its purchases from American suppliers rose by 70%, to $19bn.

On May 15th America tried a different tack. It announced new rules that target Huawei’s in-house microchips, which power many of the firm’s products. The rules are aimed at the factories that take such designs and turn them into working silicon, such as those owned by tsmc in Taiwan and smic in China. They specify that no American tools can be used to make Huawei’s products. Since every big chipmaker uses some American tools, the effect is to freeze Huawei out completely. The Chinese giant denounced a “pernicious” decision that “threatens to undermine the entire industry worldwide”.