The 18-month long trade war between the U.S. and China has been widely seen as a battle over tech. Indeed, a defining motive for Trump is what he sees as China's unfair trade practices and theft of American intellectual property. The restrictions placed on U.S. tech sales to Chinese companies ultimately helps China, however, by forcing it to progress its own innovations.

Henrik Naujoks, partner at the global management consultancy Bain & Company, told CNBC Monday that China is making "tremendous" progress in what he described as a "race between the U.S. and China on technology." Meanwhile, Ben Harburg, a managing partner of MSA Capital, characterized Trump's apparent concession on Huawei as a "reprieve," saying that it would give the tech firm time to develop its own chip capabilities and operating system.