SINCLAIR RESEARCH has agreed to supply ZX-81s and Spectrums to the Chinese so that they can develop their own microcomputer industry.

The machines will be shipped to China as kits, where they will be assembled at a factory in Guangzhou, the zone in which production of home computer products will be concentrated.

Prism Microproducts, the Sinclair Research main distributor in the U.K., has also won a contract for a series of exhibitions to help British microcomputer companies which produce hardware and software for Sinclair machines to enter the Chinese market.

The Chinese companies involved, the South China Computer Co and the China Electronics Import and Export Corp, are giving an undisclosed amount for the development of the industry.

The Chinese are taking the subject of computers very seriously and companies such as Sinclair and Prism are keen to help. Richard Hease, chairman of Prism Microproducts, hopes to be able to fund the installation of more than 20,000 microcomputers in Chinese homes on a trial basis next year.

Special computer programs are being written to produce Chinese characters on the machines. They are being developed by the Beijing Software Academy.