Weaponizing the semiconductor supply chain could end up shooting the U.S. in the foot.
A Huawei office building in North America.
Since May 2019, the U.S. government has been trying to destroy China’s Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunication equipment maker. American national security hawks think that it presents a significant threat: if any telecom network uses Huawei equipment anywhere in the world, they argue, China’s military could interfere with U.S. military overseas operations. Many security analysts question this thinking by pointing out that a number of nations, including both China and the U.S., can hack virtually any commercial network — with or without Huawei equipment. But that hasn’t dissuaded the U.S. government.
In the first round of government actions last year, the United States placed Huawei on a list of bad actors — the Entity List — which cuts off Huawei from U.S. suppliers of technology, principally semiconductor chips. But this ban has many loopholes, including the fact that chips made overseas are exempt from the ban. Moreover, the ban spurred Huawei’s already
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