2022 Chinese Domestic Operating System Development Report: Current Status, Experience, and Future Trends

The article is based on the "2022 Chinese Domestic Operating System Development Report" and provides an overview of the current state, industry experience, and future outlook of domestic operating systems in China.

Operating systems are defined as system software that manages resources internally and provides interaction externally; the scope includes desktop, server, smart‑terminal, and embedded OSes, though this report focuses on desktop and server variants. An OS consists of kernel, system libraries and services, and applications, and can be classified as open‑source or closed‑source. Most Chinese OSes are built on the Linux kernel, such as UnionTech UOS and Kylin OS.

The Russia‑Ukraine war affected Russian OS markets, with Microsoft, SUSE, Red Hat, and Canonical withdrawing services in 2022.

Open‑source communities are the main source of innovation for open‑source OSes and are crucial for supply‑chain security. Chinese OSes adopt open‑source technology stacks, but their underlying code remains subject to open‑source licenses and foreign legal constraints, posing risks if community support is discontinued.

In December 2021, CentOS 8 was discontinued, replaced by CentOS Stream, and CentOS 7 will end support in 2024, creating opportunities for Chinese cloud providers (Huawei Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud) to build domestic open‑source communities.

Four typical commercial models for OS vendors are identified: license sales, development tools, cloud services, and app store revenue. Red Hat pioneered a subscription‑based model offering free software licenses with paid annual support.

Since 2021, Chinese OS vendors have diversified into targeted, product, and solution models, expanding sales channels beyond direct sales. Overall domestic OS market share remains below 5%, but growth is projected above 20% according to market research.

The market is consolidating around two leading players, UnionTech and Kylin, fostering ecosystem concentration. UnionTech leads the deepin desktop community, while Kylin launched the openKylin desktop community. Both contribute to openEuler and OpenAnolis server OS communities.

Ecology is the core competitive factor for OSs; despite catching up technically, Chinese OSes face ecosystem challenges due to limited downstream applications and a lack of critical mass. Breaking the “critical mass” threshold is essential for a virtuous cycle of user adoption and developer investment.

The article concludes with numerous external links to related reports and promotional material.