When Huawei was first restricted from buying products from some US suppliers in May 2019, the confidence from Huawei management was very clearly delivered: We've been preparing for this moment for years and we are ready. Our US suppliers will suffer and we will be fine.

Almost a year later when Huawei reported their 2019 financial result last week, the tone from the management changed dramatically: We are not fighting alone. We may get hurt badly, but so will the US suppliers and the global technology supply chain.

See the comments from Huawei in the chart below. This dramatic change of tone and the fact their latest P40 smartphone is still using key US suppliers showed how hard it is, if not impossible, for any company to survive without the global supply chain.

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