US wants 5G hardware designed, made OUTSIDE of China

Huawei isn't the only one in trouble when it comes to 5G technology and its various troubles over the last dew months, as the Trump administration is reportedly looking into requiring 5G hardware and products being designed, and made outside of China.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the story, adding fuel to the fire by writing the move could "reshape global manufacturing and further fan tensions between the countries". A recent executive order from the White House saw restrictions put in place to restrict some networking hardware and services from other countries coming into, and being available in the US.

All of the concerns of cybersecurity in the US led to a huge 150-day review of the entire US telecommunications supply chain, with one part of that seeing US officials asking telco-equipment manufacturers if they can design and produce the hardware and software that is coming into the US, outside of China. Right now, the US is the epicenter of technology, but no major telecommunications equipment is made in the United States. Most of it, is made in China.

The US has already put bans in place for Huawei and their products coming into the US and powering the next-gen roll-out of 5G infrastructure, hardware, and software. Huawei doesn't agree with what the US has said, but US officials are concerned China could order engineers to place security holes in products being made in the country and bound for the US. These holes would allow China to spy on, completely control, disable and manipulate some of the critical infrastructure in the United States... and that obviously can't happen.

Michael Wessel, who is a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said: "While the primary national-security concerns center on Chinese-owned firms, the equipment produced by any firm operating in China is at greater risk for vulnerabilities because of access to personnel and facilities". Wessel reports directly to Congress on these security issues.

You can read the full piece on the WSJ here.