China's government agencies and state run firms given ultimatum to replace foreign PCs within two years

Visitors experience facial recognition technology at Face++ booth during the China Public Security Expo in Shenzhen, China October 30, 2017. Picture taken October 30, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip - RC1A55461440

China has ordered its central government agencies and state run firms to replace PCs from overseas brands with homegrown alternatives. They have been given two years for the transition.

As per a report from Bloomberg, staff within the organisations were told to give up PCs from foreign brands and adopt homegrown alternatives with operating systems developed locally.

Also Read: China's tech companies get a temporary reprieve, not a pardon

This mandate will see at least 50 million PCs getting replaced at just the government alone. The move is part of a larger, decade long drive that seeks to replace everything from semiconductors to networking gear and phones with technology developed at home.

The mandate will later be extended to provincial governments who will also get the same two-year deadline. A source close to Bloomberg said that the current directive will only cover PC brands and software, and not components like processors from Intel and AMD. Linux will likely become the alternative to Windows.

Also Read: Chinese tech companies rocket as politburo hints at letup in crippling crackdown

State owned media agencies and cybersecurity agencies can still continue to buy imported technology and hardware but only under special permits granted by the government. The move will have an impact on sales of HP and Dell, two of the largest PC providers in the country, next only to local manufacturer Lenovo.