China to Remove US Chips from Networks

The tech war between China and the US continues with bans. Chinese officials ordered operators to remove foreign chips from their networks by 2027. It is an apparent blow to both Intel and AMD.

According to media reports, officials told the nation’s largest operators – China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom – earlier this year to phase out foreign processors from their networks in a move that increases tensions between China and the US. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ordered state-owned mobile operators to examine their networks for foreign semiconductors and then come up with timelines to replace them with domestic alternatives.

China accounted for more than 27% of Intel’s total revenue in 2023 and 15% of AMD’s. In March 2023, China was seeking to forbid the use of Intel and AMD chips, as well as Microsoft’s operating system, from government computers and servers in favor of local hardware and software. Those measures also cover the removal of database software from non-Chinese companies. In October 2023, the US moved to impose tougher export restrictions on the sale of AI chips to China from companies such as Nvidia.