China Standard Software Co Ltd and Tianjin Kylin Information Ltd Co will jointly build a domestic operating system, according to China Electronics Corporation. Photo: Courtesy of CEC

Major Chinese software developer Kylin Software was launched in North China's Tianjin Municipality on Friday, aiming to build a domestic operating system supporting 5G, artificial intelligence and other next-generation technologies with tens of billions of yuan in investment.

Kylin Software will nurture an elite team of more than 10,000 researchers to develop a domestic operating system in five years, while building three product series including a desktop and server operating system, a cloud operating system and an embedded operating system, according to a statement on the Tianjin government's website.

In a speech during the launch ceremony, Ni Guangnan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering in Beijing, urged the acceleration of independent innovation in core technologies and a break from foreign monopolies as internet and information securities problems have become more apparent.

Kylin Software is an integration of China Standard Software Co Ltd and Tianjin Kylin Information Ltd - two major software developers in China which developed the NeoKylin Linux operating system and the Kylin server operating system.

The move signals China's software operating system industry has entered a new era, and may challenge foreign players' dominant positions in China within three to five years, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent analyst, told the Global Times on Saturday.

According to industry analysts, China's software operating system industry is currently dominated by foreign players like Microsoft's Windows, Google's Android and Apple's OSX, which collectively account for over 90 percent of the market share.

Liu Dingding said the performances of domestically developed operating systems are on par with foreign-developed ones or better, but the problem is a lack of mass application. 

"If apps developed by internet giants could all fit into the Kylin operating system, more consumers would naturally use domestic systems," he said, noting that domestically developed systems are mainly used by governments and national defense bodies.

Liu Gang, director of the Nankai Institute of Economics and chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies, told the Global Times that the US' technology restrictions are an opportunity for domestic operating systems.

"Although China has a number of globally leading internet firms, state-owned enterprises should play a larger role in making key technological breakthroughs, as they need continuous investment," Liu Gang said.