According to Bloomberg, China intends to stop the use of computers and operating systems of foreign companies into state institutions and state-owned enterprises within two years, marking one of Beijing's most aggressive efforts to date to root out foreign technologies.
After the May vacation week, staff were asked to replace foreign computers with local computers running operating software developed in the country, people familiar with the project said.
In an effort to support local PC makers and software developers and reduce the impact of potential Western government sanctions, the Chinese government reiterated its order to replace foreign-branded PCs and software used by agencies, governments and businesses. supported by the state with local technologies within two years.
Lenovo is a Chinese company that makes computers and computer servers, among other things. Founded in 1984 by Liu Chuanzhi, the brand became known around the world in 2005 when it acquired IBM's personal computer division, becoming the world's leading PC manufacturer.
While replacing a Dell with Windows for a Lenovo with Linux sounds tempting for Chinese companies, it seems that the country has not done it so far, but this new initiative seems to have more force.
There are many reasons why the Chinese government wants the country to switch to local technologies. First, wants to keep Chinese money in China and not see it flow to foreign companies. Second, after learning the lesson from Huawei's crackdown, you want to make sure you're not dependent on technology developed and built elsewhere. Specifically, technology that may be prohibited from being imported into China.
Remember that due to the Russo-Ukrainian war, Western companies were prohibited from doing business with Russia: a wave of unannounced breaches of contracts with Russian companies followed. Thus leaving in difficulties all those Russian companies that had placed their trust in Western technologies or companies.
The vast majority of PCs sold worldwide are assembled in China, but carry US or European origin brands. The Chinese government and state-owned companies also use Dell and HP branded computers made in China. However, it seems that Beijing only wants to see local brands such as Lenovo, Inspur, Founder, Tsinghua Tongfang in state-owned and state-owned enterprise offices.
SAP halted all sales to Russia in early March in line with international sanctions. Enterprise software giant SAP said it would suspend all sales in the country. Economic sanctions against Russia are an important mechanism in efforts to restore peace. yes
The initiative is expected to require the replacement of at least 50 million foreign-brand computers, which will be ordered to be replaced with equipment from Chinese manufacturers.
En general, manufacturing PCs with Chinese brands is not a problem for Chinese manufacturers. The biggest challenge and one of the main reasons why China still relies on foreign technology would be to replace American and European software with Chinese alternatives. There are a number of Linux distributions developed in China, such as Red Flag Linux designed by Red Flag Software and Kylin developed by the National University of Defense Technology, which could replace Windows and/or foreign Linux distributions for some users.
There are also alternatives to Microsoft's Office and some other commonly used applications, such as Adobe's Photoshop. Although the alternatives are not as comfortable to use as the originals and their capabilities are usually inferior to the originals, they can still get the job done (but not in all cases).
The problem is that there are many professional software developed over decades that have no alternatives that offer similar capabilities and features. Programs used for content creation, computer-aided design (CAD), electronic design automation, professional visualization (ProViz), video editing, video post-production, and many other applications would be virtually irreplaceable.
That is why media and security companies have obtained special permissions to buy foreign equipment. Meanwhile, the Chinese government not only wants its own employees to switch to Chinese programs, but also demands that state-owned and state-backed companies stop using American and European software.
According to preliminary data, the prescription will not apply to components that are difficult to replace, like processors. Despite the development of China's own chips, most Chinese manufacturers continue to use Intel and AMD processors in PCs. It is recommended to replace Microsoft software with Linux-based solutions developed by Chinese manufacturers.
Following the information about the Chinese government initiative, shares of HP and Dell, which occupy a significant part of the Chinese market, fell by around 2,5%. While the shares of Chinese manufacturers such as Lenovo, Inspur, Kingsoft and Standard Software, on the contrary, rose in price.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com