Huawei, Ericsson or Nokia? Apple or Samsung? US or China? Who’s Winning the 5G Races

Once a glimmer in the eyes of executives from Shenzhen to Silicon Valley, 5G now dominates a broad swath of the global supply chain—and the competition to control different parts of it is heating up. Equipment makers, smartphone sellers and chip designers are all vying for control of machines and services that use the fifth-generation wireless standard, which is becoming easier to find across parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Since its start as a series of plans developed by engineers and government policy makers, 5G technology has moved from a rounding error to a multibillion-dollar business for many tech companies. Like other engineering upgrades before it, 5G has helped reshuffle the global pecking order in the markets for smartphones and cell-tower equipment. At the same time, government officials from Tokyo to Washington are a key part of the global competition, determined to support their 5G industries for economic and geopolitical reasons. Their subsidies and mandates stem from a worry that whichever country dominates the 5G economy will reap the economic rewards for decades to come. All of which leads to this question: Who’s ahead? Which equipment makers are in the lead and which ones are gaining or losing? Which cellphone companies have jumped out in these early days of 5G deployment? Which countries are leading the way in terms of 5G availability? Below we offer a scorecard, a snapshot in time of some of the most competitive 5G races.