Vägen mot splinternet : Stormaktsrivalitet i designfasen av 6G

This thesis examines the strategic logic behind the great power rivalry between the United States and China during the formative design phase of the upcoming 6G architecture. Drawing on Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman's theory of Weaponized Interdependence, it analyzes how technical standardization has been transformed from a neutral arena into a central geopolitical battleground. Through a directed qualitative content analysis of strategic policy documents from both nations, the thesis maps the methods used to embed or neutralize structural power positions before the infrastructure of the upcoming 6G network itself exists. The analysis reveals a clear strategic dichotomy: China's pursuit of vertical integration and a self-sufficient technological ecosystem is contrasted with the U.S. counter-strategy of redefining the entire field through alliances and dominance over the software and cloud-infrastructure layer. The thesis concludes that this power struggle, with its incompatible ambitions, makes a fragmentation of the internet - a splinternet - not merely a future risk, but the already established reality into which 6G technology risks being born into.