This study examines how the U.S.–China technological rivalry reshapes inventive collaboration in core 5G infrastructure technologies. Using 106,117 priority patent applications filed by leading 5G patenting firms between 2010 and 2023, we construct patent-level measures of inventor collaboration and diversity across geopolitical blocs. To identify the effects of geopolitical fragmentation, we exploit differences in firms’ pre-existing exposure to cross-bloc inventor integration and the changes in global cross-bloc co-invention over time.
Geopolitical fragmentation significantly reduces cross-bloc inventor integration. Firms with greater pre-existing exposure to cross-bloc knowledge recombination experience larger declines in collaboration as fragmentation intensifies. A one-standard-deviation increase in the fragmentation shock reduces the likelihood of collaboration between U.S. and Chinese inventors by 2.1 percentage points, or roughly one quarter relative to the sample mean. Fragmentation also reduces inventor diversity and the share of inventors from rival geopolitical blocs, with the most pervasive and statistically robust effects observed among Chinese companies.
