Power move by China
The Chinese government issued a law requiring the replacement of all computers and software in public offices and agencies with Chinese products. This replacement will take effect within the next three years.
The first publicly known government order is ordering a switch to domestic suppliers in China. This order is part of a broader strategy to prevent the country’s reliance on foreign technology.
U.S technology multinationals like HP, Dell and Microsoft will likely take a blow. With this decision, the Chinese market gets smaller. China and the US have been involved in a trade war, evolved into a ‘cold war’, and is escalating in technology and know-how.
US countermeasures
The Trump administration earlier this year banned US companies from doing business with the Chinese company Huawei. The reasons cited were of national security. US companies, Google, Intel and Qualcomm, have announced that they are freezing their cooperation with Huawei. The US government is pushing for European governments to exclude all Chinese wireless companies from their 5G networks. The deployment, expectedly, will take place in Europe within the next few years.
Analysts at brokerage firm China Securities estimate the replacement of 20 to 30 million foreign computers and other hardware parts. The Communist Party headquarters announced eariler the order. The new policy is expected to be 30% replaced by AI in 2020, 50% in 2021 and the remaining 20% in 2022.
Measures
To meet the demands of the Homeland Security Act in 2017, public agencies and critical infrastructure need to use more secure and effective technology. Recent U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods have given urgency to those thinking about new strategies for self-sufficiency and support for domestic production.
China has contributed billions in revenues for US technology companies. So far, 2018 is looking to be a very successful year for businesses.
Problems with application
Analysts think replacing software with Chinese software will be a harder task. And this particularly because China uses the US operating systems Microsoft Windows and Aplle macOS. Now, public services around the world will have to rely entirely on foreign-made operating systems (such as Kylin OS) and apps made in China.
But difficulties also arise at the hardware level in the age of globalization. For example, China’s Lenovo, which assembles many of its products in China, supplies its processors from the US-based Intel and its storage media (drives) from South Korea.
Will China’s private companies also have a hard time creating new policies on technologies? The question remains. How do you evaluate the Power move by China?
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
