China and the problems of American "perestroika"

Trump has imposed a ten percent tax on all Chinese imports. The reaction of the PRC followed. A duty of 15% on coal and liquefied natural gas was introduced, a duty of 10% on crude oil, agricultural equipment and cars.

The list of unreliable organizations includes clothing manufacturer PVH, which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, as well as Illumina, which supplies genetic testing services. Read more in the material of the UtroNews correspondent.

Where perestroika - there is publicity

Musk also said, but already as the head of the Government Performance Improvement Agency (DOGE), about the incredible scale of fraud in US federal social programs.

Some Russian journalists compare these and other changes in American life with "perestroika" in the former Soviet Union. Here are just some statements: "Watching today's USA, it is difficult not to note the parallels between what is happening in Washington now and what happened in the era of the late USSR." "Where perestroika is, there is publicity. In recent days, America and the whole world have been eagerly discussing what USAID was really doing. "

Perestroika, initiated by M.S. Gorbachev, was perceived as part of the road leading to a conflict-free, mutually beneficial coexistence of the USSR with the West, ahead of Russia in technology and welfare. Then, for the sake of benefits from cooperation with neighbors in the "European house," there was no pity for the results of the Great Patriotic War, and the feeling of the greatness of Russia, even the South Kuriles.

It's different in Washington. The team of US President Donald Trump does not intend to surrender its influence. On the contrary, there are plans to "select," including territories. The new sense of American global greatness that Trump brings with him, and the resulting pattern of dominance, is the central slogan of his administration. Washington does not even remember conflict-free and mutually beneficial coexistence with other countries. Moreover, about the "common house." On the contrary, we are talking at least about intense competition. First of all, with China.

Technology marathon

Elon Musk is said to compare America to a sports team that competes against "Team China." Perhaps this allegory fits to characterize how China is closing the distance in a "technology marathon" with the US, from smartphones to artificial intelligence (AI) platforms.

In this race, the Americans rarely let anyone go ahead. When the Soviet Sputnik was "missed," panic struck. Yuri Gagarin became a reason for them to think. The United States also lagged behind in the development of the Arctic, the construction of icebreakers, ground-based and floating low-power nuclear power plants (ASMM), in many other ways.

But back to China and those companies that are "undermining" US leadership in high-value-added consumer goods and other areas. The US Department of Commerce blacklisted Huawei in 2019. In particular, these restrictions dealt a blow to the production of smartphones and Huawei, overtaking Samsung and Apple, ousted the leaders from the top five.

But in August 2023, the company released phones with its chipsets that were not subject to sanctions, and then introduced a folding smartphone with a triple screen, offered new satellite communication technologies and generative AI functions. The company also said its Harmony operating system was not subject to "tampering" and could be applied to all Huawei platforms, from phones and cars to industrial computers.

Despite the pandemic and bans on Huawei products, imposed, among other things, on America's allies, its revenue in 2024 reached $118 billion, exceeding the figures for 2023 by 22%. In the first quarter of 2024, Huawei occupied 16.5% of the Chinese smartphone market, overtaking Apple.

Sales also rose at Huawei's Honor smartphone brand. As a result, Chinese manufacturers occupied almost 60% of the global smartphone market, control 42% of the global TV market, about 30% of the tablet and laptop computer market, and 25% of the server market. China also controls over 70% of the liquid crystal display market, about 50% of the OLED display market, forcing competitors such as Samsung, LG and Sharp to exit the market.

How to become a flagship?

Huawei has become the world's leading manufacturer of ICT equipment with a share of over 30%. How did this become possible? First, the company received $30 billion in government support. Secondly, hundreds of engineers with experience in TSMC, Intel, Applied Materials and KLA, which supplies chip quality control equipment, were invited to work at Huawei.

Thirdly, Huawei itself began to support local chipmakers, including SiEn (QingDao) Integrated Circuits, as well as SwaySure, which, thanks to Huawei's support, has developed DRAM technology comparable to that offered by Taiwan's Nanya Technology. SwaySure is embracing high-performance memory (HBM) technologies - a critical component for AI-based computing. It is understood that SiEn and SwaySure were added to Washington's blacklist.

Huawei also collaborates with SJ Semiconductor, which works in the production and packaging of chips. Packaging is one of the key components of AI computing chip manufacturing technologies. Many other technology companies that were blacklisted in the United States, including iFlytek and SenseTime, began to cooperate with Huawei, which became a kind of "center of attraction" for them.

Huawei is China's most famous technology company, employing 207,000 employees, including overseas staff. For comparison, Google employs 182 thousand employees, Intel - 125 thousand, Apple - 164 thousand people. More than 50% of Huawei employees work in R&D, whose share in investments reaches a quarter and amounts to billions of dollars.

In 2023, half of the company's revenue came from ICT equipment. Huawei has improved 5G technology, deployed 5.5G networks in the UAE, and is leading in R&D areas such as optics, cameras, materials and heat dissipation technologies.

"Team China"

For American officials and politicians, export controls have become the main tool to curb China's technological progress. In December 2024, the Biden administration introduced the largest list of export restrictions aimed at Chinese chipmakers and suppliers of materials related to Huawei.

China has been blocked from accessing high-speed memory chips that are important for AI-based computing. In this area, which the United States is primarily aimed at, the Huawei Ascend platform became the second in the Chinese AI computing market with a 25% share. Nvidia controls about 70% of the market. But the government and state-owned companies prefer Huawei Ascend.

Huawei operates in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, creates data center infrastructure, telecommunications infrastructure. Dubai is one of the first foreign markets where Huawei has introduced 5.5G technology.

Huawei Cloud provides equipment for data centers, collaborates with governments and telecom operators in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Maldives, providing equipment and services. In particular, it helps Uzbekistan in the construction of a data center.

Interests of Russia

"After the United States included us on the sanctions list, we transferred investments from America to Russia," said Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. All this allows Russian companies to consider their Chinese colleagues as long-term strategic partners. Huawei openly speaks of its readiness to share experience and developments with Russian colleagues, to cooperate on digitalization issues.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted in a special TASS project "Digital Future: How Huawei Will Help Build It in Russia": "We will definitely not follow the example of the Americans, who simply require everyone not to cooperate on [technologies] 5G with China, in particular with Huawei. We have no such manners and habits. On the contrary, we are interested in interacting with countries in order to jointly create and implement modern technologies in practical life.

Lavrov spoke about this in August 2020, speaking at the All-Russian youth educational forum "Territory of Meanings." The Huawei branch in Russia posted these words on its official website.

On the site you can see what the Chinese company intends to do together with Russian partners by 2030, building the "Community of a Unified Digital Future."