• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

The Supreme Court handed Trump a Golden Chariot on tariffs — now he just has to take it

1

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure

2

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

3

The Supreme Court handed Trump a Golden Chariot on tariffs — now he just has to take it
TechData Sheet

Data Sheet—How a Huawei Arrest Fits Into the Big Picture of China-U.S. Relations

By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
and
Clay Chandler
Clay Chandler
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
and
Clay Chandler
Clay Chandler
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 12, 2018, 9:24 AM ET

This is the web version of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top tech news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.

Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is undoubtedly resting a little easier this morning. On Tuesday, a Canadian justice ruled that she can be released on bail of $10 million Canadian dollars while awaiting extradition to the United States. Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, will be subject to 24-hour physical and electronic surveillance by two security guards, which she’ll have to pay for herself. She’ll also have to abide by a curfew between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and wear an ankle bracelet so her movements can be monitored. But at least she’ll be able to serve her detention in the comfort of her multi-million dollar Vancouver mansion.

The U.S. Justice Department has sought Meng’s arrest on the narrow charges of hiding Huawei’s ties to a Hong Kong company that did business with Iran, thereby violating U.S. sanctions law. But in China, her detention is seen as symbolic of a broader U.S. effort to restrain Huawei and China itself. As the Washington Post puts it, the fraud allegations against Meng “fit neatly into the Chinese narrative about American efforts to undercut China’s rise as an innovator and rival, especially in the race for the next step in smartphone technology, known as 5G.”

But just because a narrative “fits neatly” that doesn’t make it wrong. Over the past several months, the U.S. has launched a global campaign to persuade security allies to ban Huawei products from their markets. Allies from the so-called “Five Eyes” countries (the other four are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom), as well as Japan and the European Union have all raised security concerns about Huawei. Australia has blocked Huawei from rolling out its 5G technology. Japan has announced that it will stop buying Huawei technology for its government and military, and Japan’s top three telecom companies have reportedly decided to forego procuring Huawei equipment.

In the United Kingdom, an early and enthusiastic customer of Huawei technologies, telecommunications industry experts have been sharply critical of security flaws in Huawei products and software. The Financial Times reports that Huawei has “caved in” to demands from British security agencies to address the risks and has pledged $2 billion to overhaul its systems. That may suggest a way forward for Huawei in other Western markets as well.

As for Meng, her extradition will put pressure on Washington to put up or shut up in labeling Huawei a security risk. As CNBC’s Katie Fazzie points out, so far U.S. officials have aired their grievances about unfair Chinese business practices to friendly audiences like congressional committees and have “rarely had a chance to make any cyber-theft or money-laundering allegations in court against a Chinese executive.” In court, the scrutiny will be more rigorous. Losing the Meng case, Fazzie warns, “could mean losing credibility here and abroad on a far wider range of security issues involving China.”

Clay Chandler
@claychandler
clay.chandler@timeinc.com

NEWSWORTHY

Tomb of his virtue. Speaking of the odd arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, President Donald Trump did nothing to dispel talk that the move was related to his ongoing trade battle with China when he mentioned possibly using Meng as a pawn to close a deal. “If I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made, which is a very important thing—what’s good for national security—I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” Trump said on Tuesday. If the trade war does not wind down, Apple could move production of the iPhone out of China to other, unspecified countries, Bloomberg reports. Apple would consider abandoning China if U.S. tariffs were applied to phones at a level of 25%, the anonymously sourced story, which did not include a comment from Apple, stated.

A walking shadow. And further speaking of China, some U.S. authorities are blaming the Chinese government for the massive hacking attack that stole data on 500 million guests of Marriott's Starwood hotels, the New York Times reports. China denied the allegation.

Struts and frets his hour upon the stage. After declining earlier entreaties, Google CEO Sundar Pichai appeared on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to answer lawmakers' questions about every subject they could think of to make themselves look better. Not much new information was gleaned, as Pichai largely ducked questions about Google's plans for re-entering the Chinese search market and other hot topics. Also, Mr. Monopoly showed up in the audience.

A poor player. Remember Bloomberg's controversial, hotly disputed, widely denied blockbuster story in October that Chinese spies had secretly embedded a spying microchip on motherboards of servers made by Super Micro? In yet another blow to the story's credibility, Super Micro announced on Tuesday that an outside audit had found “absolutely no evidence of malicious hardware on our motherboards.”

Full of sound and fury. On Wall Street, Michael Dell announced he had obtained shareholder approval to complete a complex transformation of his namesake tech company and return to the public markets at year's end. Dell Technologies will trade under the symbol DELL. Also, Chinese music-streaming service Tencent Music priced its IPO late Tuesday at $13 per American depository share, at the low end of its projected range. The shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TME on Wednesday. And Verizon said it was writing off about half the value it paid for acquiring Yahoo and AOL. The $4.6 billion pre-tax write off leaves just $200 million in goodwill and $5 billion in assets on the carrier's books for the struggling digital media unit known as Oath.

Of his virtue and of his honor. Aldo Amenta was completely paralyzed in a diving accident three years ago. But he walked across the graduation stage on Sunday to receive his diploma from Florida International University thanks to a powered exoskelton. The video is pretty inspiring. Cobots, or collaborative robots that work in conjunction with humans, are definitely going to be big.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We are using a few thousand words in today's Data Sheet to convey information about the state of the tech world. But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words—and sometimes many more. Brand research firm Kantar in collaboration with author and infographics guru David McCandless are out with their annual "Information is Beautiful" awards and the list is filled with stunningly gorgeous and brilliant depictions of data. The complete list of winners is online, but be sure to check out Pedro Cruz's visual tree ring metaphor for U.S. immigration patterns and Professor Marian Dork's history of the world through coins.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

U.K. National Health Service Signs Fax Machines' Death Certificate By Erik Sherman

Nvidia's 50% Plunge From Its Peak May Be Causing a Headache for Softbank's Vision Fund By Kevin Kelleher

Hertz and Clear Bring Facial Recognition to the Rental Car Industry By Jeff John Roberts

How Police Use Fake Amazon Boxes and GPS to Catch Thieves By Don Reisinger

Fatal Uber Self-Driving Car Accident Could Have Been Prevented, Says Former Manager By Erin Corbett

The NIH Is MRI-ing Kid's Brains While They Instagram to Study the Effects of Screen Time By Brittany Shoot

Popular YouTube Streamer Promotes Channel That Publishes Anti-Semitic Content By Chris Morris

BEFORE YOU GO

While Amtrak trains trundle slowly across the country's neglected infrastructure, other nations are pressing their advantage. East Japan Railway unveiled a prototype high-speed train on Wednesday designed to operate at speeds of 224 miles per hour, rivaling the fastest locomotives in the world, such as the engines on China's Fuxing line that hit a maximum speed of 248 mph. But don't fret–we have an incredible talent for making cool toy train displays.

This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman. Find past issues, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters.

About the Authors
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Clay ChandlerExecutive Editor, Asia

Clay Chandler is executive editor, Asia, at Fortune.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

zuck
LawSupreme Court
Supreme Court lets Vermont’s Meta lawsuit proceed, opening door to 50-state legal wave
By Lindsay Whitehurst and The Associated PressMay 27, 2026
60 minutes ago
new
Big TechObituary
Donald Newhouse saw the internet coming in 2004. His newspapers still weren’t ready
By Scott Mayerowitz and The Associated PressMay 27, 2026
1 hour ago
bezo
Innovationspace
NASA just awarded its first moon base contracts—and Jeff Bezos was on the list
By Marcia Dunn and The Associated PressMay 27, 2026
1 hour ago
leo
InnovationAutos
Ferrari presents Pope with its first ever electric car, stock plunges 8%
By Alexa St. John and The Associated PressMay 27, 2026
1 hour ago
Current price of Ethereum for May 27, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for May 27, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 27, 2026
2 hours ago
ai
CommentaryGoogle
How Sam Altman fooled Sundar Pichai — and pushed Google into cannibalizing itself
By Sunil SharanMay 27, 2026
3 hours ago

Most Popular

The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
Travel & Leisure
The U.S. campaigned to host the World Cup. Now soccer fans will trade their countries' train system for the U.S.'s 'D' rated infrastructure
By Catherina GioinoMay 25, 2026
2 days ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
6 days ago
The Supreme Court handed Trump a Golden Chariot on tariffs — now he just has to take it
Commentary
The Supreme Court handed Trump a Golden Chariot on tariffs — now he just has to take it
By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven TianMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
Success
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he criticizes everything his 42,000-plus employees show him: ‘You can’t go a day without some criticism’
By Preston ForeMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Tuesday, May 26, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 26, 2026
1 day ago
Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it's worth it
AI
Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months. Now its COO is questioning whether it's worth it
By Jake AngeloMay 26, 2026
21 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.