, Columnist
Global Tech Is Weaker Than It Looks
Huawei’s stockpiling has helped to obscure the depth of a revenue slowdown that’s rippling through the industry.
Another one for the shelf.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ten months ago, I warned that storm clouds were brewing over the global technology industry. The situation today is much worse.
Back then, a U.S.-China trade war was more risk than reality, Apple Inc.’s pending iPhone update held promise, and central banks were still in tightening mode. Yet inventories at the end of June 2018 had climbed to the highest since the financial crisis a decade earlier and a sector-wide slowdown was looming.