China is set to implement a ban on United States-made microprocessors from Intel and AMD in government PCs and servers, favoring domestic technology over foreign solutions.
"Officials have begun following the new PC, laptop and server guidelines this year, after they were unveiled with little fanfare by the finance ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on December 26," Financial Times reported on Sunday.
This ban is not just a policy change, but a clear signal of the escalating tech rivalry between China and the United States. Both nations are now in a race to secure their technological futures amidst growing geopolitical tensions.
The guidelines, outlined in December of the previous year, are now being enforced, marking a significant push by the Chinese government to reduce reliance on foreign technology.
The latest purchasing rules signify China's most decisive effort yet to develop substitutes for foreign tech. They mirror the United States' own measures to encourage domestic production and restrict exports to China on national security grounds.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that President Joe Biden was considering blacklisting several Chinese semiconductor firms linked to Huawei Technologies Co after the company managed to deploy Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation 7-nanometer (nm) processor for its new phone Mate 60 Pro.
"Beijing's procurement revamp is part of a national strategy for technological autarky in the military, government and state sectors that has become known as xinchuang or 'IT application innovation,'" Financial Times said. Xinchuang is the Chinese term used by Beijing for the strategy to remove foreign technology from government computers.
The new measures "are the first nationwide, detailed and clear instructions for the promotion of xinchuang," the outlet said, citing a Chinese official in charge of IT system substitution.
These measures are not only limited to microprocessors but also target Microsoft's Windows operating system and foreign-made database software, advocating for the adoption of domestic alternatives within government procurement.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Commerce, AMD and Intel for comment.
Lin Qingyuan, a chip expert at research group Bernstein, predicts a quicker substitution for server processors due to the narrower software ecosystem requiring replacement, the Financial Times reported. It is expected that xinchuang servers, which align with these new guidelines, will comprise 23 percent of China's total server shipments by 2026.
Furthermore, the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center has released a list of approved "safe and reliable" processors and operating systems, all from Chinese companies, including those from Huawei and Phytium, which are on Washington's export blacklist. The list of approved companies includes 18 processor manufacturers.
These processor manufacturers utilize a mix of architectures, including Intel's x86 and Arm, as well as indigenous designs with operating systems based on open-source Linux software.
Efforts to ensure compliance with the new guidelines are being reinforced at provincial and city levels, with finance ministries issuing numerous notices. While some leeway remains for the procurement of foreign technology, additional steps are required to register and justify such purchases.
The central government has also allowed for limited continued use of Intel and AMD-powered computers, contingent on adherence to specific management procedures, according to the Financial Times.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
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