Ericsson CEO Calls for Increased U.S.–EU Relations to Counter China
If Ericsson falls behind China, ‘our reason to exist is very limited’
ASPEN, Colo, August 21, 2025 – Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm did not mince words when he declared that the U.S. must work with its allies if it hopes to counter the rise in Chinese next-generation telecommunications.
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“Even the U.S., how large it is, is not large enough to be on its own,” Ekholm said. “We need to work together – the U.S., Europe, like-minded countries, India, Japan. That’s the best way for us.”
Ekholm’s words came Tuesday at Aspen’s annual Telecommunications Policy Institute. The long-time executive praised the U.S.-EU partnership, though had critiques for both nations.
“Europe has dramatically underperformed the U.S. in the last 50 years,” he explained. “American companies invest 50 to 100 percent more in R&D and [capital expenditures] compared to European companies…Europe is becoming an open-air museum still using paper tickets because connectivity is so bad.”
Despite this, he warned that severing relations with Europe would only harm American interests. Both countries need each other's markets and innovations.
“Saying now that we should throw it overboard I think seems very premature and very simplistic,” he said.
He said Huawei and ZTE are Ericsson's fiercest competitors
Ekholm described Chinese rivals Huawei and ZTE as Ericsson’s fiercest competitors, pointing to their “hypercompetitive” approach and Beijing’s industrial policies that prioritize telecom.
China has deployed about 4 million 5G standalone base stations — more than 10 times as many as the U.S. That dense network is already powering robotics, drones and factory automation.
“When you start to get that scale, you build the local ecosystem that becomes very competitive,” he said. “Huawei is part of a much bigger ecosystem.”
Despite China’s 5G dominance, Ekholm said that the U.S. remains Ericsson’s most important market. He also noted that the company was investing heavily in India.
“The way they have digitalized society around the 4G network is second to none,” he said. “So India is really important.”
One of Ericsson’s key recommendations to increase U.S. competitiveness was to strengthen the U.S. spectrum pipeline. He recommended that the U.S. take a similar approach with 6G spectrum as it did with 4G spectrum.
“If you want to have a humanoid or a robot or self-driving vehicle that’s gonna be relying on connectivity, it has to be truly reliable,” he said. “It’s going to require reliable connectivity and that requires spectrum.”
He also questioned whether the Western market could support more than three bandwidths.
“The whole Western ecosystem actually depends on having a number of Western bandwidths as well,” he said. “I’m not sure the Western ecosystem is large enough to support three.”
EU's AI Act a 'wet blanket on innovation'
Ekholm also spoke about artificial intelligence’s impact on network’s spectrum needs, noting that some AI-optimized networks were using 10 percent less spectrum. He praised the U.S.’s approach to regulating artificial intelligence, while calling the EU’s AI Act a “wet blanket on innovation.”
He briefly touched on some operator’s struggles to monetize 5G, noting that they have struggled to monetize it because most carriers have deployed non-standalone networks that extend 4G capacity without delivering new features.
“It’s very hard to monetize something you don’t have,” he said.
When asked by Broadband Breakfast why the U.S. doesn’t have a global telecommunications equipment manufacturer, Ekholm said he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know why the U.S. doesn’t have a domestic telecom company in that sense,” he said. “You used to have a couple.”
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