Opinion: China is winning the trillion-dollar 5G war

A cellphone tower, used for a 5G network, on a street in Beijing, May 19. — AFP

China is building tens of thousands of 5G base stations every week. Whether it wins technological dominance or not, domestic supply chains may be revived and allow the country to maintain – and advance – its position as the factory floor of the world, even as Covid-19 forces a rethink in how globalisation is done.

By the end of this year, China will have more than half a million of these towers on its way to a goal of five million, a fast climb from around 200,000 already in use, enabling faster communication for hundreds of millions of smartphone users. By comparison, South Korea has a nearly 10% penetration rate for 5G usage, the highest globally. The much-smaller country had 115,000 such stations operating as of April.