Chinese PC OS maker releases AI-focused openKylin to capitalize on potential PC demand growth

China’s first native open source desktop operating system (OS) openKylin has released a new version artificial intelligence (AI) personal computers (PCs) as the country steps up efforts to reduce reliance on foreign systems amid a global artificial intelligence boom.

OpenKylin for AIPC, launched on Sunday, is “deeply integrated” with AI technology with support for large language models (LLM) on the device and includes features that include an AI assistant and text-to-image generation, the community that maintains the operating system said in a statement. WeChat published on Monday.

AI brings new challenges and opportunities for infrastructure software, the community said. openKylin’s goal for AIPC is to “significantly improve” workflow and creative experiences for native operating system users, according to the group.

In a report on Monday, Chinese state-run Science and Technology Daily called the AI-based version of openKylin “safe, stable and controllable.”

OpenKylin is designed to have the look and feel of Microsoft Windows, on which the Chinese government has been pushing to reduce its reliance. Photo: openKylin — OpenKylin is designed to look and feel like Microsoft Windows, which the Chinese government has been pushing to reduce dependency. Photo: openKylin

Original version openKylin was released in 2022which follows a decades-long effort in China to create a domestic alternative to Microsoft Windows and Apple’s macOS.

Growing trade tensions between the US and China have only intensified Beijing’s drive for technological self-sufficiency.

The central government has recently made a more concerted effort to wean itself off Windows and foreign chips like those from Intel. Many sensitive government initiatives run on systems based on Kylin, a closed version of openKylin, the core of which is a state secret.

The open source community was co-founded by Kylinsoft, maker of the Linux-based Kylin software and a subsidiary of state-owned China Electronics, with participation from more than 10 other Chinese entities, including the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center.

Last July, the community released its first open-source desktop operating system, openKylin 1.0, which was developed by 3,876 developers and 271 companies.

Domestic operating systems have made little progress over the years. Windows controlled nearly 80 percent of the Chinese market as of June this year, according to data analytics firm StatCounter.

OpenKylin is now banking on the same industry-wide trend of AI computers, which is fueled by the hope that AI applications can revive demand for computers. AI computers are computers with processors that are advanced enough to conveniently run some generative AI tasks locally rather than processing queries in the cloud.

The race to bring such devices to market intensified this year after Microsoft announced the Copilot+ computers, which run Microsoft’s Copilot AI-generating software and require a neural processing unit capable of handling at least 40 trillion operations per second, a measure of how quickly an AI model can respond to a query.

Luca Rossi, Executive Vice President at Lenovo Groupwhich makes its own Copilot+ computers, told the Washington Post in May that China would be a “unique place” for AI computers because of its data localization requirements.

In the absence of popular overseas generative AI services such as Copilot or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, China’s AI computers will also have to rely on domestic LLMs.