The Chinese Government is set to investigate IBM, Oracle and EMC over security issues, according to Reuters.
The announcement comes on the heels of revelations by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of the NSA’s surveillance programme, which led to alleged hacking of many computer networks at universities in China and in Hong Kong.
The Washington Post on Thursday claimed the NSA, under its Prism surveillance programme, had accessed private internet data from emails, chat rooms and videos of companies such as Facebook and Google since 2008.
An anonymous source was quoted by Shanghai Securities News as saying: "At present, thanks to their technological superiority, many of our core information technology systems are basically dominated by foreign hardware and software firms, but the Prism scandal implies security problems."
Reports surfaced in June that Chinese authorities identified as many as eight renowned US technology companies as having "seamlessly penetrated" China.
A report published in July by New York-based Rhodium Group said: "Previously Chinese Government objections to US tech firms operating in China were grounded in ideology; now the Chinese authorities and the public are increasingly worried about exposure to US technology and equipment because of espionage."
Chinese hackers took down the New York Times and Washington Post websites repeatedly in the four months leading to January 2013.
