Technology self-reliance will help China's IT infrastructure remain intact in face of US crackdown

By Chen Qingqing and Zhao Juecheng in Changsha Source: Global Times Published: 2020/10/27 2:13:24

China to accelerate homegrown key technologies to survive Washington's sanctions, protect cybersecurity: insiders


The Kunpeng 920 chip, among other server chips, showcased at Huawei Beijing research center. Photo:CGTN


Chinese tech developers, who have been pushing for a 'de-Americanization' path in recent years amid the US-China tech standoff, reassure the public that Beijing's fundamental IT infrastructure will remain intact even under growing pressure from Washington.

Some industries relevant to fundamental interests and cybersecurity of China such as the military, banks, state-owned enterprises and government agencies are ready to purge all foreign technology, as part of the central government's firm determination to protect the country's IT infrastructure security in face of a much more complex external environment, some industry representatives said. 

"In extreme situations, key IT infrastructure could survive without importing the latest CPU chipsets from the US in three to five years," Ni Guangnan, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who years ago suggested authorities reduce reliance on US technologies, told the Global Times on Friday. 

While some foreign observers consider such move an attempt to further decouple from  the US, the Chinese veteran engineer takes it as a "necessary measure in preparing for the worst case scenario" between the US and China. Given that the Trump administration has not stopped curbing major Chinese tech giants such as Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), the need to boost both China's chipset design and manufacturing capabilities has become much more apparent, and a warning to the whole industry. 

Top Chinese policymakers are gathering in Beijing this week to outline the 14th Five-Year (2021-25) Plan, the country's future economic blueprint, which, as some experts forecast, could pivot the world's second-largest economy to becoming more self-sufficient. Some expect the country will reduce reliance on imported technology such as chipsets given the escalating crackdown of the US government on some Chinese tech giants, according to media reports. 

Surviving sanctions 

When Mu Sen, deputy designer director of Aerospace Cloud Network under China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp (CASIC), talks about the US crackdown on the Chinese high-tech sector, the veteran developer who specializes in data and programing, smiled and referred to "US blacklisting" as a "recognition" of one's value.

"We've been surviving the sanctions from day one," he told the Global Times. As a state-owned enterprise focusing on aeronautics and national defense, which involves sensitive technologies, CASIC has been sanctioned by the US for many years. 

"Many years ago, when the USSR withdrew its experts who aided us with technologies in defense and aerospace, our predecessors could not even get a piece of a crystal valve, but such a difficult situation also forced us to become self-sufficient and learn how to build up a system by using available tools and technologies," the veteran engineer said. 

Like many other Chinese developers who have been pursuing the country's "De-IOE" campaign - an attempt to decrease dependence on US software and service firms namely IBM, Oracle and EMC - Mu has been working for years in building its self-developed database to replace American database software from Oracle that has a monopoly in the sector. To the date, this homegrown database has successfully replaced Oracle in dozens of sectors such as telecommunications, banks, energy and military, he said. 

China spends more than 100 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) every year purchasing foreign servers, half of which are used as database servers, according to some industry analysis. Advancing self-reliance in high-tech will deliver a heavy blow to US giants such as IBM and Intel with their server business, database software from Oracle and EMC's advanced storage sector. 

Ni, who has been advocating for self-reliance in China's high-tech sector, believes that by replacing American IT infrastructure built on IOE, China does not need the cutting-edge 7-narometer and 14-naromater chipset processing technologies - prime targets of the US-initiated tech war against China.

Enhancing cybersecurity 

With the tech cold war between China and the US heating up in recent years, some observers believe that Chinese policymakers will stress the importance of protecting national security including data security, which also makes the 'de-Americanization' campaign relevant to both livelihoods and national interests an urgent task. 

"For years, some key operation and management data was stored in foreign ERP products, some data relevant to Chinese people's livelihoods were owned by foreign companies, raising severe cybersecurity concerns," Jiang Zhenghua, vice president of Shanghai Boke Information Technology Co, which challenges the monopoly of foreign enterprise software provider SAP, told the Global Times. 

Though SAP is a German company, American investors hold a stake in it and once the US government uses its long-arm jurisdiction to interfere in its business in China, China needs to get prepared and find alternatives, Jiang noted. "It's not easy but we are determined to do so," he said. 

Over the next five years, China needs more than ever to invest in fundamental research to make technology breakthroughs to increase innovation, and Ni, as an adviser in the industry, is calling for more investment in both talent and fundamental technologies. 

In spite of growing external pressure, "we are actually at the best time to pursue innovation," Ni said. However, accelerating self-reliance in high-tech does not mean China is shutting the door to the outside world and won't lead to two completely separate technology worlds following US-China tech decoupling, he emphasized. 

"We'll continue the development of our homegrown system, making it open to the world and support other countries, including developing countries, to access it, and it's normal to see other players other than the US grow and become much stronger and compete with each other," Ni said. 

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