There is a key to be able to manufacture the best processors in the world: have access to software that allows you to design them. And there, at least currently, the leadership still has the United States through three companies: Siemens, Synopsys and Cadence. The Trump administration has been since May trying to pull the rope with China To use this software as a throwing weapon. And the play has not finished doing well.
The context. On May 29, the Office of Industry and Security of the US Department of Commerce He gave the order: EDA software is ended up to Chinese groups. A movement that sought to stop China’s incessant advance in semiconductors, at a key moment in which the country led by Xi Jiping is achieving milestones in its lithographic, current and future processes.
The answer. China, which has been looking for technological self -sufficiency for decades and reduce its dependence with the United States, saw in these new restrictions “the greatest opportunity for history growth”, according to some of the main figures after Chinese EDA software companies. Triggered action, national commitment to a product that has been refining years, and even publication in Github of some of the advances they were achieving in this matter.
What happened. The restrictions imposed on the sale of software by Siemens, Cadence and Synopsys have been terminated with immediate effect, According to SCMP. The three giants of this industry can resume their commercial ties with China, so their supply chain can resume the use of these crucial tools.
What will happen now. That the United States has unlocked (at least, for now) the use of EDA software is an oxygen ball for the Chinese semiconductor industry. The country is close to achieving capacity to make 5nm chipsalthough It is still choking progress in this lithographic process Before the prohibitions of the US and the Netherlands that prevent Asml extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE). Access to American Eda will be key, but not the key to the future of the country.
Empyrean Technology, Primarius Technologies and Semitronix are the names to remember. Three Chinese giants who want to stand up to the three American giants, a task that will not be easy.
The American Eda Empire. Together, Siemens, Synopsys and Cadence are around 80% of the global in this industry. They monopolize almost all of the EDA market and are one of the main strategic pillars in the semiconductor design industry.
Figures that will not allow China to approach in the short term, but that will not move her away from her inevitable destiny: Lead the semiconductor industry, sooner or later.
Image | TSMC
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