&gt; I find it unlikely that without a free&#x2F;open software ecosystem like linux or bsd<p>In Taiwan and China, it&#x27;s common to use Linux in university and to work on Open Source projects (see OpenWebmail and Linux Virtual Server projects, for impressive successes.)<p>The Chinese government was pushing their Red Flag linux, but I&#x27;m not sure where that is now. Certainly Linux would be used in their home-grown CPU and superconductor efforts.<p>However, once students graduate, their employers are less likely to understand making Open Source contributions at the business level.