The word on the street is that Intel and AMD's CPUs, Microsoft Windows and other foreign database software are getting swapped for home-brewed kits.

According to the Financial Times any Chinese government bods buying above the village level have to tick boxes saying they have bought for "safe and reliable" tech.

The China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center's been showing off a shopping list of these trustworthy treats, and it's all Chinese, all the way. We're talking Huawei, Phytium, and a smorgasbord of x86, Arm, and homegrown gizmos.

The Middle Kingdom has been on a mission to shake off its rep as the world's workbench and muscle as a tech titan in its own right with its Made in China 2025 game plan.

Last year, China was where the money was for Intel, snapping up 27 per cent of its $54 billion sales. AMD wasn't far behind, raking in $23 billion, or 15 per cent of its takings. But for Microsoft, it's small fry—China's only coughing up about 1.5 per cent of its cash flow.

This tech tiff ain't just about the gear. It's part of a bigger beef between Beijing and Washington, with the Yanks trying to put the kibosh on China's chip-making chops. And let's not forget Nvidia's AI kit is getting the cold shoulder, pushing them to whip up weaker wares just for China.

Stateside, they're playing copycat with the CHIPS Act, chucking $52 billion at firms to bring chip-making home. Intel's already pocketed the most significant chunk yet: a cool $8.5 billion, plus loans and tax sweeteners.

And it's not just the chips getting the chop. Apple's shares tumbled by nine per cent when China gave the iPhone the boot from some government offices.