Exit American computers. The Chinese government wants to dispense with machines designed abroad in favor of in-house solutions. 50 million computers should be replaced in 24 months.
It is the shepherd’s answer to the shepherdess. In response to the multiple embargoes imposed by the United States on Chinese telecommunications companies (Huawei in the lead), China will banish American technologies from its computer equipment. Or at least try.
Lenovo and Huawei as kings
An article from Bloomberg dated May 5, 2022 explains that Beijing is seeking to replace all of its “foreign” computers with in-house products. Targeted, at least initially, are all machines of central government and state-funded enterprises. In all, no less than 50 million computers are due to be replaced over the next two years.
And in order to replace them, the country wants to use devices built in China and equipped with a home operating system. No more HP or Dell machines; the government wants to replace them in 24 months with Lenovo or Huawei devices, which have the good taste to come from local companies. Exit also Microsoft and its Windows operating system: it is advisable to switch to Linux distributions for all the computers concerned. Only a few exceptions (especially in the context of the fight for cybersecurity) will be made, and these will be reassessed frequently, we learn. Bloomberg.
Hard to do without Intel
This very aggressive transition is the result of a double reflection for Beijing. The first aspect is economic: China wants to encourage the growth of in-house players. And with the behemoths that Lenovo or Huawei have become, the government has the means to achieve this. The second reason is political: the United States having banned Huawei products from their territory by brandishing fears of espionage, China wants to do the same. And if on top of that it can hurt the US economy, then that’s a bonus.
Where China is going to have a hard time doing without American technologies, on the other hand, is in the heart of these computers. Even if Huawei produces a home PC with a home OS, there is a good chance that the processor that runs it comes from Intel, since the firm’s chips are very complicated to replace without causing major incompatibilities. By leading this campaign, China further freezes Sino-American economic relations. And is beginning one of the most abrupt transitions in its digital history, marked over the past 10 years by uninhibited protectionism.