China is Reducing Dependency on Western Tech
The central government is phasing out Windows and Intel CPUs in critical government projects that use Kylin, the closed-source forerunner of openKylin. Kylinsoft, a subsidiary of state-owned China Electronics, and over ten other Chinese businesses, including the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Centre, founded the openKylin open-source community.
Over 3,876 developers and 271 corporations contributed to openKylin 1.0, its first open-source desktop OS, launched in July 2022. Despite these attempts, StatCounter reported that Windows controlled approximately 80% of the China market as of June 2023.
Chinese Tech Giants Rise to The Challenge of OpenAI’s Pullout From China
These developments come as OpenAI started prohibiting Chinese users from using its tools and services this week, making it simpler for China to recruit domestic developers for local AI platforms. Last month, OpenAI said it would limit API traffic from locations where it doesn’t support access.
OpenAI has not explained this abrupt shift. The Chinese government’s firewall blocks ChatGPT, but developers used VPNs to access OpenAI’s tools for fine-tuning their generative AI applications.
