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Microsoft’s Windows and foreign database programs also sidelined as Beijing favours Chinese hardware and software

Among the 18 approved processors were chips from Huawei and state-backed group Phytium. Both are on Washington’s export blacklist. Chinese processor makers are using a mixture of chip architectures including Intel’s x86, Arm and homegrown ones, while operating systems are derived from open-source Linux software.

  • reverendz@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    This could be a good thing. The monopoly Microsoft and the x86 architecture have had on computing has hampered new development for decades.

    China is experimenting with different architectures and open source OS’s. It’ll be very interesting to see where this leads.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    It’s honestly surprising they ever did.

    You’d figure they’d go as far as banning them for the whole country to give their own companies the market.

  • someguy3@lemmy.ca
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    2 years ago

    Do they really have good enough chips? I thought this stuff was hard to do.

        • 7heo@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          Substantially. CISC vs RISC is night and day. Keeping x86 for so long was a mistake, but one that generated billions in value for shareholders.

          • someguy3@lemmy.ca
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            2 years ago

            If I can ask, if we go way back like 40 or 50 years ago, why did cisc get adopted over risc?

            • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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              2 years ago

              Cisc was never adopted. It all started out basic, then they gradually added more and more shit until you had a complex CPU.

              Without the concept of risc there wouldn’t be a cisc.

            • 7heo@lemmy.ml
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              2 years ago

              Additionally to the other answer: the reason CISC came up to be was “less instructions”. Memory was a lot more expensive, and developers worked in assembly a lot more. So, less instructions made a lot of sense. Now, memory is cheap, and developers almost never write assembly unassisted.

    • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      New ARM chip from Loongson is supposedly competitive with Zen 3 (launched November 2020).

    • forgotmylastusername@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      They already have their own x86 chips. They’re a few generations behind the cutting edge. They’ve been catching up fast which is why the US and EU have been shitting their pants trying to wage cold war. All of a sudden ramping up the China bad narrative out of left field when not long ago they were trying to work with China rather than against them…

      Much of the manufacturing difficulty we hear about with western industry is achieving highest yields possible of the most powerful chips to please ravenous shareholders demanding flawless profit gains every quarter. Capitalism problems in other words. It’s much different when your goal is merely to produce computers for government office use. You can still use old computers for the majority of computing needs.

    • ManixT@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Do you have any idea how protectionist China has been for the past several decades? Nothing the US has done comes even close to their long standing policies.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        They ban certain media properties and cultural imports, but they’ve been open for business to developers and industry my entire life. This recent wave is way different. This is an actual industrial supply-side commodity that is used in production, not a controversial movie.

        Something new has been happening since America launched the chip tradewar and the performative attacks against Xinjiang province.

        • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          In all likelihood, they’ve been open for business to make it easier to nab intellectual property from the rightful owners. China has probably just decided they’ve learned enough to make their own “homegrown” products, and can safely kick all the western businesses out of the market.