China Delete A Policy Costs Intel Billions in Revenue
Beijing push to replace foreign chips hits American chipmakers
China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued directives in early 2024 requiring the country largest telecom carriers to phase out foreign semiconductors from their network infrastructure by 2027. The policy is now showing measurable financial results.
Intel revenue from China declined from 20.03 billion dollars in 2019 to 14.85 billion dollars in 2023. AMD saw its China revenue drop from 5.21 billion dollars in 2022 to 3.42 billion dollars in 2023.
How the replacement works
Official procurement guidelines for government agencies list eight CPU options. The top six are domestic Chinese CPUs including chips from Huawei HiSilicon, Zhaoxin, and Phytium Technologies. Intel and AMD occupy the bottom two slots.
The broader Delete A ecosystem
The chip replacement extends beyond semiconductors to operating systems, databases, and enterprise software. Chinese government agencies are migrating from Windows to domestic Linux distributions, from Oracle databases to DM Database and OceanBase.
What it means for chip investors
The revenue losses for Intel and AMD are structural, not cyclical. China domestic chip ecosystem has reached sufficient maturity for most enterprise and infrastructure applications.
Sources
- China US Focus, PRC Industrial Policy
- Intel and AMD annual reports 2019-2023
- SEMI, World Fab Forecast Q1 2026