Most of the world has not yet experienced the benefits of a 5G network, but the geopolitical race for the next big thing in telecommunications technology is already heating up.

For companies and governments, the stakes couldn¡¯t be higher. The first to develop and patent 6G will be the biggest winners in what some call the next industrial revolution. Though still at least a decade away from becoming reality, 6G ¡ª which could be up to 100 times faster than the peak speed of 5G ¡ª could deliver the kind of technology that¡¯s long been the stuff of science fiction, from real-time holograms to flying taxis and internet-connected human bodies and brains.

The scrum for 6G is already intensifying even as it remains a theoretical proposition, and underscores how geopolitics is fueling technological rivalries, particularly between the U.S. and China.