Can China Refactor Western IT? 9 by Merrill | 2 comments on Hacker News. If current trade disputes cut off China from Western tech, then China may be free to pursue IT standards and designs for internal use that are only partially interoperable with Western IT. Further, China may need designs that more efficiently use domestic chips and do not require as advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes. One way to achieve these goals may be to "refactor" Western IT. The design of current Western IT is governed by a plethora of standards, both official standards from IETF, IEEE, ITU, ISO..., as well as unofficial standards set by dominant manufacturers and associations. The complexity of standards grew over 4 decades because researchers want their contributions included, manufacturers want their patent positions protected, incumbents want their investments protected, and new entrants want extensions for differentiation. The complexity of unofficial standards grows because of