Because it’s really about putting one’s thumb on the scale of market participation, not actually about China at all.
This is why Boeing can make as many bad planes as they want. They’re part of the US government and they will always “win” the game we pretend they play against other vendors.
Same goes for Lockheed, Raytheon, AT&T, Microsoft, HP, and Dell. Delta. Probably also Ford and GM.
AWS is trying to get on this list (see the whole JEDI thing that was gift-wrapped for them until Oracle got mad and noisy about the corruption) and almost certainly will eventually if they haven’t already.
Circumstances suggest that Apple (because iPhone use aiding in global surveillance due to iMessage), Google (because Gmail and search), and Meta (because WhatsApp) are similarly favored (although not totally integrated like Microsoft and Boeing and AT&T) over any competitors, due to their massive and often-overlooked strategic geopolitical importance, both domestic and abroad. There are unimaginably big perks to playing ball with the state, just ask Palantir.
Others I would assume get special treatment: Comcast, Level 3, Verizon. Probably also Visa.
Good luck trying to compete with any of them in the market on merit when the people who own and control
the market don’t want their buddies or surveillance partners to lose.
It’s mostly about the transfer of MANY billions of dollars of public tax money to the friends and associates of those who direct that money. China is just a convenient excuse. We all know the US as a unit is totally incapable of catching up to Chinese technology output or development pace (save for isolated pockets like Apple and SpaceX who thrive despite being in the US, not because of it).
Most of the functions of the state are around allocation of ostensibly-public money, and little else, I find.
> Because it’s really about putting one’s thumb on the scale of market participation, not actually about China at all.
I wish this were true. It is not. Huawei has very famously (and publicly admitted) to stealing intellectual property from US tech companies, in many cases through conducting corporate espionage. Huawei has also had many of their products independently audited by various governments and found to contain intentional security flaws or backdoors.
You could easily make the argument that clearly US companies are just as bad, after all most US tech companies got funding to start from the CIA and clearly the intelligence community is really involved w/ Juniper and HPE (Dual EC anyone?). Both sides doing something doesn't absolve anyone who has to make a decision from understanding the implications of it, though.
This is more than just putting the thumb on the scale, it's a battle between a world of Pax Americana and a world where China runs things.
> We all know the US as a unit is totally incapable of catching up to Chinese technology output or development pace (save for isolated pockets like Apple and SpaceX who thrive despite being in the US, not because of it).
You mean the same US tech industry that has invented basically every modern computer technology, including the most cutting edge technologies available now? Are you kidding me? Nobody can possibly take this statement seriously. China has leg irons on because of US sanctions, but nonetheless the historical record is pretty clear that China excels at copying and scaling, but not so much invention. Creativity requires freedom of thought, something in horribly short supply within China.
This is why Boeing can make as many bad planes as they want. They’re part of the US government and they will always “win” the game we pretend they play against other vendors.
Same goes for Lockheed, Raytheon, AT&T, Microsoft, HP, and Dell. Delta. Probably also Ford and GM.
AWS is trying to get on this list (see the whole JEDI thing that was gift-wrapped for them until Oracle got mad and noisy about the corruption) and almost certainly will eventually if they haven’t already.
Circumstances suggest that Apple (because iPhone use aiding in global surveillance due to iMessage), Google (because Gmail and search), and Meta (because WhatsApp) are similarly favored (although not totally integrated like Microsoft and Boeing and AT&T) over any competitors, due to their massive and often-overlooked strategic geopolitical importance, both domestic and abroad. There are unimaginably big perks to playing ball with the state, just ask Palantir.
Others I would assume get special treatment: Comcast, Level 3, Verizon. Probably also Visa.
Good luck trying to compete with any of them in the market on merit when the people who own and control the market don’t want their buddies or surveillance partners to lose.
It’s mostly about the transfer of MANY billions of dollars of public tax money to the friends and associates of those who direct that money. China is just a convenient excuse. We all know the US as a unit is totally incapable of catching up to Chinese technology output or development pace (save for isolated pockets like Apple and SpaceX who thrive despite being in the US, not because of it).
Most of the functions of the state are around allocation of ostensibly-public money, and little else, I find.