Huawei’s business model wasn’t much different from that of Sony or Samsung when they first won a major position in the world’s tech ecosystem. Wasn’t a bit more competition a good thing? On the National Security Council, however, competition with China was now seen primarily in zero-sum terms. These officials interpreted Huawei not as a commercial challenge but as a strategic one. Sony and Samsung were tech firms based in countries that were allied with the U.S. Huawei was a national champion of America’s primary geopolitical rival.
