China is removing Microsoft’s Windows 10 from state agencies

China is removing a government version of Microsoft’s Windows 10 from state agencies, earlier than planned.

The Ministry of State Security recently told some state-linked entities to uninstall the customised software, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The instruction stemmed from data security concerns, they said. They did not specify the vulnerabilities involved.

The move brings forward a retirement date already on the calendar. The version was due to be discontinued in February 2027. The new directive pulls that in by several months, according to Bloomberg. It came weeks before US President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Bloomberg said the acceleration surprised some state agency staff.

Microsoft said it had not found a problem. “Microsoft is not aware of a security incident affecting this product, which continues to receive regular security updates,” a spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We have nothing further to share.”

Bloomberg framed the directive as another step in a long effort to root out the world’s most popular PC software and reduce China’s dependence on foreign technology.

The timing is notable on its own terms. The order landed just weeks before the planned Trump-Xi meeting, and CMIT had set no removal deadline for this year. Bloomberg reported the schedule change caught some state agency employees off guard.

The software is a Microsoft joint venture

The affected version is not standard Windows. It is built by C&M Information Technologies, or CMIT, according to Bloomberg. CMIT is a joint venture between Microsoft and the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation. The two set it up in 2016 to make Windows 10 compliant with Beijing’s security requirements.

CMIT’s edition customises the original software with cybersecurity features developed in China. It also switches off certain native functions to meet national security rules, according to Bloomberg. Microsoft ended support for standard Windows 10 in late 2025, after launching Windows 11.

China’s State Council Information Office did not respond to a request for comment, Bloomberg said. That request went to the office in place of contact details for the Ministry of State Security, which are not public. CMIT also did not respond to a request for comment.

Chinese software makers rallied

Domestic suppliers stand to gain, and their shares moved on the news. Hunan Kylinsec Technology and Archermind Technology both rose by the 20 percent daily limit, Bloomberg reported. China National Software & Service climbed 10 percent.

Several Chinese firms already sell operating systems meant to replace Windows. They include Kylin Software and Tongxin Software Technology, according to Bloomberg. Hunan Kylinsec, whose shares hit the daily limit, is among the makers of these domestic alternatives.

The swap-out goes beyond software. Beijing has ordered central government agencies to replace foreign-branded PCs, Bloomberg reported. Apple’s iPhones have also been barred from at least some sensitive state entities. The Windows order is the latest item on that list rather than a break from it.

Part of a wider substitution drive

The directive fits a longer push to replace foreign technology in sensitive sectors. Bloomberg reported that Beijing has been promoting homemade tools in areas that handle sensitive data, including the military and state-owned firms. On chips, China has been cut off from Nvidia’s most advanced accelerators. It has leaned instead on domestic firms such as Huawei and Cambricon, Bloomberg noted.

That pressure has already shown up in the desk’s coverage. China has named its own homegrown chip tools, and the US is trying to map the workarounds Chinese firms use to rent the chips they cannot buy.

Domestic hardware has been displacing imports elsewhere too. China Telecom handed Huawei a $1.7bn server deal built on its Kunpeng processors this summer. Foreign companies that want to stay have adapted to the rules instead. Apple, for one, handed its China AI model to Alibaba.

The scale of a full separation is large. Decoupling the West from China would cost an estimated $23.6tn, one analysis found this year. Windows is one small piece of that. It is a visible one, given how widely the software runs.

China is still a big Microsoft market

The Windows retirement does not mean Microsoft is leaving China. The company has built a large business selling AI models to Chinese firms including ByteDance and Tencent, Bloomberg reported. ByteDance alone is on track to spend more than $1bn a year on Microsoft AI and cloud services, according to earlier Bloomberg reporting.

That split captures Beijing’s approach. It is closing the door on foreign software inside government machines, while foreign AI still sells freely to its biggest tech companies. The Windows directive covers state agencies, not the private sector.

Globally, Windows 10 has been slow to disappear. A July 2026 study found one in six PCs still ran it, against 78.8 percent on Windows 11, TechRadar reported. It added that the average Windows 10 device carries about 1,903 active security flaws, against 652 on a Windows 11 machine. Microsoft has extended paid security updates for the operating system to October 2027, TechRadar noted, so machines still running it are not yet unprotected.

What is still unknown

The core detail is missing. Beijing has not said publicly what security concern prompted the order, and Bloomberg’s sources did not spell it out. Microsoft says there is no known incident with the product.

Three things would show how far this goes. Whether the directive widens from state-linked entities to the broader public sector. Whether other foreign software follows Windows out. And what Beijing eventually says the security concern actually was. None is answered yet.