Beijing has ordered all government offices and public bodies to remove foreign equipment and software within three years. A fatal blow to HP, Dell and Microsoft. The government directive requires Chinese buyers to switch to home technology providers. The news echoes Trump's announcement to curb the use of Chinese technology in the United States and allied countries.
Washington this year banned US companies from doing business with Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei and is looking for ways to direct US investment into European products. The United States recently proposed that sales of technology to the United States by "foreign adversaries" would be scrutinized for national security reasons. It has also lobbied European allies to divert attention to Huawei's 5G technology projects.
China Securities analysts estimate that the hardware components to be replaced are around 20-30 million. They also added that replacements would take place at a rate of 30% in 2020, 50% in 2021 and 20% the following year. Analysts reported that the order came straight from the Chinese Communist Party's central office in early 2019. The policy documents of the central office are confidential, but employees of two cybersecurity companies told the Financial Times that their government customers have confirmed the new Chinese government directive. The new cyber policy is part of a broader strategy for Chinese government agencies and critical infrastructure operators to use "safe and controllable" technology, as enshrined in the country's cybersecurity law, passed in 2017. But unlike the previous pushes for technological self-sufficiency, this project has received further impetus from recent US sanctions, said Paul Triolo of consulting firm Eurasia Group. "China's computer program is just the tip of the new spear," Triolo said. “The goal is clear: to arrive in an area that is free and exempt from sanctions. To avoid the problems that ZTE, Huawei, Megvii and Sugon are having. Jefferies analysts estimate that US tech groups generate up to $ 150 billion annually in revenue from China, although much of that comes from the private sector. Beijing's pace for replacement is ambitious, although government offices already tend to use desktop computers made by the Chinese brand Lenovo, which acquired IBM's personal computer division in 2005. Analysts say it will be difficult to replace the software. with national alternatives, since most software manufacturers develop products for popular operating systems in the United States, such as Microsoft's Windows and Apple's macOS. Homemade Chinese operating systems, such as Kylin OS, have a much smaller ecosystem of developers producing compatible software. The definition of “national production” is also complex. Although Lenovo has many products in China, its computer processor chips are made by Intel and its hard drives by Samsung.