China Telecom has officially announced the list of successful bidders for its high-performance server centralized procurement project for 2026-2027.
The massive tender, with a total budget exceeding 11.5 billion yuan, was ultimately divided among eight companies operating under two major domestic technology platforms: Kunpeng and Hygon.
The procurement involves a total of 40,000 servers, divided into two lots.
Lot 1 is for ARM-A servers (G-Series), totaling 28,000 units. Eight bidders participated in this lot, with six candidates announced. According to the rules, five are expected to secure shares, with an average quoted price reaching approximately 8.18 billion yuan.
The ranking of successful bidders for Lot 1 is as follows: Sichuan Huakun Zhenyu Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. in first place with a bid of 8,149,050,927.09 yuan, Powerleader Computer System Co., Ltd. in second with 8,153,907,089.66 yuan, Wuhan Yangtze River Computing Technology Co., Ltd. in third with 8,161,355,422.51 yuan, Henan Kunlun Technology Co., Ltd. in fourth with 8,172,903,057.49 yuan, Baixin Information Technology Co., Ltd. in fifth with 8,200,156,392.97 yuan, and China Greatwall Technology Group Co., Ltd. in sixth with 8,220,003,120.85 yuan.
Lot 2 is for C86 servers (G-Series), totaling 12,000 units. Six bidders participated, with one disqualified, leaving four candidates announced. Three are expected to secure shares, with an average quoted price reaching approximately 3.31 billion yuan.
The ranking for Lot 2 is: ZTE Corporation leading with a bid of 3,276,199,621.00 yuan, followed by New H3C Information Technology Co., Ltd. with 3,326,885,329.17 yuan, Inspur Computer Technology Co., Ltd. with 3,320,470,662.69 yuan, and Lenovo (Beijing) Information Technology Co., Ltd. with 3,330,883,522.29 yuan.
Performance in the ARM-A Server Lot
In the ARM-A server lot, manufacturers using the Kunpeng architecture performed strongly. Huakun Zhenyu ranked first with approximately 8.149 billion yuan. Powerleader Computer, Yangtze River Computing, Kunlun Technology, and Baixin Information placed second through fifth, with the top five companies collectively securing about 8.161 billion yuan.
Competition in the C86 Server Lot
The C86 server lot showed a three-strong pattern. ZTE Corporation led with approximately 3.276 billion yuan, with New H3C and Inspur Computer following closely behind. The three companies together won bids totaling about 3.3 billion yuan. Sugon was disqualified for failing to meet the substantive requirements of the tender documents.
Shift to Domestic Technology
This list clearly indicates that China Telecom has fully pivoted its procurement towards domestic technology routes. Whether it's the Kunpeng ecosystem based on ARM architecture or the C86 route compatible with x86, all shortlisted companies are domestic manufacturers. China Telecom's stance on "complete domestic sourcing" is very firm this time.
This raises the question: as the operator with the largest server procurement scale domestically, will China Mobile follow suit, and if so, when? Industry estimates suggest China Mobile's annual server procurement volume is roughly 1.5 to 2 times that of China Telecom. The 11.5 billion yuan represents China Telecom's two-year framework; converted to China Mobile's scale, under similar conditions, this could amount to 20 billion yuan or even more.
The implications of this figure for domestic server manufacturers are significant and worth considering. One point many have overlooked is that China Mobile is not a new customer for domestic servers. In its recent procurements over the past couple of years, China Mobile has already begun setting up dedicated "domestication" lots, though the proportion hasn't been as comprehensive as China Telecom's current move.
If China Mobile also adopts China Telecom's approach, running ARM and C86 lots in parallel, the primary beneficiaries can be largely predicted. The companies that made China Telecom's shortlist—Huakun Zhenyu, Yangtze River Computing, ZTE, Inspur, and New H3C—would likely remain the main players in China Mobile's procurement, as they have already navigated the operator-level qualification certifications and supply chain systems. It's unlikely China Mobile would introduce entirely new players.
However, one aspect would differ: China Mobile's larger procurement scale would likely exert even greater pressure on pricing during negotiations. The bid prices from the six ARM vendors in China Telecom's tender differed by less than 1%. Competition for China Mobile's business could be even more intense, as the larger pie makes it a market no one wants to miss, potentially leading to fiercer price wars.
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