SAN FRANCISCO — Being at the forefront of a new technology often provides a strategic advantage. That helps explain why there is so much scrapping now by companies and countries over a next wave of wireless technology known as 5G.

5G is shorthand for fifth-generation wireless technology, and it essentially brings ultrafast wireless speeds to people. By sending billions of bits of data per second, up from peaks of hundreds of millions today, 5G could cut the time to download a movie to seconds. Other 5G features would allow autonomous cars and industrial equipment to reliably exchange short bursts of data at blinding speed.

Technology companies including Qualcomm, Intel and China’s Huawei have been working on developing 5G technology and standards. But even with 5G still in its infancy, the United States government underscored its importance with an unprecedented move this week to intervene in Broadcom’s $117 billion bid for Qualcomm.

In a letter on Monday, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States said it would investigate the proposed deal, partly because it was concerned that if Broadcom bought Qualcomm, it would weaken Qualcomm and “leave an opening for China to expand its influence on the 5G standard-setting process.”