US firms cannot decouple without suffering damage

When the US administration decided to add Huawei to its sanctioned entity list in May on the grounds that the Chinese company threatens US national security, it was no doubt expecting a big win.

Cutting the Chinese telecommunications equipment giant off from key US component and software suppliers was meant to at least delay, if not derail, its advance on many technological fronts such as 5G networks, thus benefiting peer US technology companies.

But things don't always go as intended. In the era of globalization where economies in the global supply chain are closely interdependent, the technology ban means pain for US companies too.