indica News Bureau-
China is working on a three -year plan to eliminate all foreign computer equipment to replace them with home-grown products.
According to a report in Financial Times, China has ordered that all foreign computer equipment’s and software’s be removed from government offices and public institution and be replaced with China-made hardware and software.
The deadline of this project has been finalized at 3 years, starting from the new year 2020. It is said that China will begin a large-scale replacement program under which 30 per cent of foreign personal computer (PC) equipment and software will be removed in 2020, 50 per cent in 2021, and 20 per cent in 2022. The formula has been called – 3-5-2 by the Chinese government.
US companies to suffer
The plan is considered as retaliatory step against USA’s moves to limit the use of Chinese technology turning trade war into technology war.
The directive by Chinese government is being viewed as a setback to US giants like HP, Dell and Microsoft, that continue to have a firm grip in technology in most major countries of the world, including South East Asian regions .
The report in FT says that there will be an estimated need of 20 to 30 million pieces of hardware in China, to implement this plan and replace the existing American computers, software and other hardware equipment. Chinese government offices will promote the use of personal computers from the Chinese-owned company Lenovo, but various components of the computers, including its processor chips and hard drives are made by American companies.
When it started
On May 16, the US Commerce Department blocked Chinese company Huawei from supplying US-sourced technology to Huawei without a license. The US alleged that the company was using modern technology for espionage. Huawei, however denied all charges stating that it is an independent company with no hidden motives.
Trump Administration has also initiated measures to bar use of Huawei equipment for next-generation 5G networks in US carriers, on security grounds. Huawei has made huge investment in 5G wireless technology, hoping to lead the world in the race to adopt the new technology, initiating the technology war with US.