Digitally generated images
Wong Yu Liang | moment | Getty Images
China has introduced new guidelines that would phase out US processors in government computers and servers, effectively banning the chips. Intel Corporation And AMDThe Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The procurement guidelines, which were unveiled on December 26, are now being implemented and will also be implementedMicrosoftThe report said that the Windows operating system and database software were foreign-made because they preferred Chinese alternatives.
The Financial Times said government agencies at the upper township level had been ordered to purchase “secure and reliable” processors and operating systems.
AMD and Intel declined to comment on the report.
This comes at a time when China is working to strengthen the local semiconductor industry as part of its effort to reduce dependence on foreign technology.
Semiconductors — vital components found in a wide range of devices from smartphones to medical equipment — have been at the center of the technology war between the United States and China.
The United States has imposed export restrictions to cut off Beijing from key semiconductor equipment and technologies.
In October 2022, Washington introduced rules aimed at restricting China's ability to access, acquire or manufacture advanced semiconductor chips amid concerns that China may use them for military purposes.
The US then introduced new regulations in October 2023 to prevent US chip designer Nvidia from selling advanced AI chips to China.
Since 2019, Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and China's largest chipmaker SMIC have been hit with sanctions by the United States aimed at restricting their access to advanced technology. SMIC has also been unable to obtain ultraviolet lithography machines crucial to making advanced chips from the company ASML.
The US-led technology ban has helped boost revenues for domestic chip equipment manufacturers in China. China's top 10 equipment manufacturers reported a 39% rise in revenue in the first half of 2023 from a year ago, according to Shanghai-based CINNO Research.
