The picture shows Hu Weiwu, chief engineer of the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, interviewed by Xinhua. Photo by Xinhua Chen Jie
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 20th (Reporter Ma Yifei and Chen Jie) On April 20, ZTE issued a “Statement on the US Department of Commerce’s Refusal of Refusal” in response to the US export ban, stating that the U.S. Department of Commerce disregarded ZTE. In the past two years, we have been making great efforts in compliance with export control and compliance requirements. We have made huge investments and made great progress. It is extremely unfair to ZTE and ZTE cannot accept it.
On April 16, the US Department of Commerce website issued an announcement that within 7 years, US companies were prohibited from exporting any technology or products to ZTE. The announcement stated that ZTE has violated the settlement agreement reached with the U.S. government in 2017. Since the publication of the announcement, it triggered Industry and public concern. What kind of difficulties will ZTE really face? Is this incident just a beginning? On April 20, Xinhua interview interviewed Hu Weiwu, Chief Engineer of the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to reveal the cause and effect of the ZTE incident.
The following is an interview record:
Xinhuanet: How do you see this ban as a 'core' incident? If the core components cannot be put in place in time, what kind of difficulties will ZTE face?
Hu Weiwu: In the short term, China’s electronic information industry is under great pressure. In the long run, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. To achieve the “Chinese Dream” of the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation, we must go through some hardships. This time, the US sanctions against China’s ZTE event is that we are leading to China. A hardship on the road to the great national rejuvenation. As China's integrated circuits have long relied on people, if the 'embargo' continues to ferment, companies in China's electronic information industry will face great pressure, and even many companies will face difficulties in survival. We must completely abandon them. Fantasy, based on independent research and development. We independently developed the BeiDou satellite because both the US GPS positioning system and the European Galileo positioning system refused to participate in China; we also developed the Tiangong series of space stations because the US-led international space station refused to participate in China. For 2025', for now, we can adjust the technical route and use independent research and development of CPUs and other components. If our industrial control system is fully automated and intelligent and then sanctioned by 2025, it will not be beneficial.
Xinhuanet: China's traditional core technology products have advanced at a slower pace. Can this incident accelerate the establishment of an autonomous and controllable information industry system in China?
Hu Weiwu: The unbalanced development pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress of the People's Republic of China is very prominent in the IT industry. China's e-commerce and WeChat applications are well-developed, but the CPU and operating system that is the foundation of the information industry are very weak. The industry is severely hampered by people, and national security is also under threat. We must adhere to the bottom line thinking. What should the United States do if it implements the embargo on full-scale components and integrated circuit production equipment in China? It is necessary to break the imbalance in IT industry development.
Since the 18th National Congress of the People's Republic of China, significant progress has been made in the R&D and industrialization of autonomous CPUs. First, the performance of autonomous CPUs has continuously improved, surpassing the low-end products of international mainstream CPUs, and they are approaching mid-to-high end. The second is the formation of thousands of companies based on autonomous CPUs. The industry's industrial chain, an autonomous and controllable information industry system is emerging. The third is a large number of applications in weapons and equipment, party and government offices, energy, transportation, etc. The use of autonomous CPUs in areas involving national security and national economic security has become Consensus. The Loongson CPU has been widely used in dozens of national heavy equipment including the Beidou satellite, as well as information systems represented by party and government offices, providing basic support for national security. In the party, government, military equipment, and information systems In the pilot application or application, independent basic hardware and software represented by CPU and operating system are from immature to mature, independent basic hardware and software industrial chain from combinational divergence to portfolio convergence, and party and government military information system based on autonomous basic hardware and software. Available, Available, Easy to use.
However, foreign monopolies have formed a strong monopoly on CPU and domestic forces are still relatively weak. The US sanctions ZTE will definitely increase the deployment of China's autonomous CPUs in the party, government, and military, and accelerate the deployment of energy, transportation, finance, and telecommunications. Promote the application of such industries, and on this basis accelerate the open market, promote China's information industry to the high-end of the global value chain, eliminate national security risks.
Xinhuanet: In the long run, how should China's core technology develop? How will the trend be after this incident?
Hu Weiwu: The U.S. sanctions against ZTE tell us: To change the current situation in which China's information industry is controlled by people, we must not only focus on improving the market share of products. We must 'construct a safe and controllable information technology system' according to the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping. The information industry is mainly based on two major technology platforms: Wintel (Intel's CPU and Microsoft's Windows operating system) and AA (ARM's CPU and Google's Android operating system). Although about 80% of global computers are produced in mainland China, As there is no industrial dominant power, the total profit of China's top 100 information industry enterprises in 2011 is 40% of that of the US Apple. In 2012, Apple and Samsung accounted for 97% of the global mobile phone profits. In 2016, Apple and Samsung accounted for 94% of global mobile phone profits.
Only by insisting on independent research and development and based on independent research and development of CPUs and operating systems to establish an autonomous and controllable industrial ecosystem, can we obtain the initiative of the industry. Recently, with the continuous development of independent CPU research and application and promotion in China, some of us want to R & D to get rid of dependence on the CPU and operating system, we have to establish new reliance on them through technical cooperation or joint ventures. Through the introduction of technology can only be done in a number of products in the technology system controlled by others, it is impossible to form a safe and controllable Information Technology System.
Forty years of reform and opening up, foreign monopolies have blocked technology when we don’t have technology, and have stopped the development of autonomous technology through technical cooperation after we mastered technology. The Chinese people have been watching the fire. Only by insisting on independent research and development and establishing their own Technical standards, the formation of an independent industrial system is the fundamental way out of the Chinese IT industry to get rid of the fate of people.