Citing sources familiar with the situation, a Wall Street Journal report said that the orders were given from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, saying that telecom providers will have to check and create a timeline for foreign-made chips’ removal.
The WSJ report suggests that Chinese telecom carriers are planning to shift towards domestic chip options, potentially due to improvements in quality and stability of locally produced chips.
US restrictions on chip exports
As per a previous report by news agency Reuters, Beijing has been accelerating efforts to replace Western technology with domestic alternatives due to rising tensions with the US. Meanwhile, the Biden Administartion has tightened restrictions on high-tech exports, such as sophisticated chips, to China.
The US government has already taken measures remove cellular equipment made by the Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei over security concerns. The US has also blocked chipmakers like Nvidia from exporting their powerful AI chips to China.
Nvidia had to redesign its chips multiple times to meet the demand from China and work under the rules set by the Biden Administration. A Bloomberg report claimed last month that AMD failed to get US approval for an AI chip it designed for China and will need to apply for an export license.
Earlier in March, the Financial Times reported that Beijing implemented guidelines to phase out US chips from Intel and AMD in government computers and servers.