The 5G-centric stand-off between the USA and China continues to have major implications for Huawei and the whole mobile equipment industry. Ericsson said it is writing down the value of its Chinese inventory by about SEK1 billion ($105m) in the second quarter of 2020. Although the Swedish vendor did secure some deals in the most recent round of 5G awards by the three Chinese operators – unlike Nokia – the write-down suggests it had to give them a very good price in order to stay in their supply chain. The deals were struck against the context of the USA encouraging allied governments to bar Huawei equipment from 5G networks, and although this policy has had mixed success, it has redoubled…