China government officials kicked off a program last month that aims to define a national processor architecture. If the initiative is successful, the processor could become a requirement for use in any projects seeking government funding such as purchases of computers or smartphones.
via China mulls national CPU architecture spec.
Editor’s comment: So, if a government (China) demands a national architecture for all processors sold in a country (almost everything is ‘government funded’), isn’t this the most blatant form of protectionism that could exist? It surely is anti-competitive. As former VP of Standards at SEMI, I personally know the Chinese government tried to hijack our flat panel display standards as well, attempting to force their national standards on our global standards body. Fortunately, they were told, “good luck,” and not allowed to play such games. I can only hope the free market leaves protectionist behavior like this far behind, as competitive companies leapfrog ahead of bureaucratic, anti-competitive, design-by-committee activities like this.