The Chinese telecom giant Huawei and other Chinese telecom firms, like ZTE, had been poised to lead the globe in 5G technology—until the U.S. State Department embarked on a global campaign to challenge the market dominance of Chinese firms with the Clean Network program.

The initiative, launched in 2020 and led by Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, united countries and companies around a commitment to abide by a set of shared principles in technology adoption, data privacy, and security practices. Is this a new era of multilateral, democratic governance of the internet, or a “splinternet” forcing participants to choose between the U.S. and China?

Krach (MBA 1981) and Harvard Business School Professor Meg Rithmire discuss how the Clean Network Program changed the competitive landscape for 5G in the case, “The Clean Network and the Future of Global Technology Competition.”