In his obsession to torpedo the Chinese chips industry, the US wants to block an essential to manufacture them: the software, according to FT

Hard setback for the Trump administration, which dawns this Thursday, May 29 with a clear response from the US International Trade Court to its tariff policy. The organism has declared generalized tariffs illegalafter considering that “they exceed any authority conferred on the president by the IEEPA (Law on Economic Powers in case of international emergency) “.

In the middle of the storm, sources of Financial Times They declare that the United States Department of Commerce has begun to urge the main suppliers of electronic design automation software (EDA), in a new attempt to continue trying to knock each of the pillars that sustains the Chinese semiconductor industry.

The new order. The Trump administration is starting to inform To the main national companies that offer the necessary software to design semiconductors that they must stop selling their services to Chinese groups.

A measure that strengths the commercial war between the United States and China, at a time when the latter country is in full chips national production record and getting closer to develop their own 5 Nm lithography.

The big names. There are three big names playing in the American industry: Cadence, Synopsy and Siemens. These three companies They monopolize the bulk of the Global EDA software market And they have been key for China to have been able to develop its current semiconductor industry.

Preventing China from accessing this type of solutions is a zancadilla. These tools are essential to achieve advanced lithographic processes and expedite essentials such as design verification, performance simulation, energy consumption, and other key aspects to lead in the manufacture of any chip.

Why is EDA software. In the manufacture of a modern semiconductor, tools that make it possible to automate the essential design and verification processes for its manufacture are necessary. Minimizing the margin of error and being especially effective in the refining of your behavior is key to leading this career.

EDA software is a fundamental element to ensure that these designs meet the expectations of the manufacturing process, and allows to automate each of the phases of the same.

The local industry. SMICthe spearhead in the Chinese semiconductor industry, It has been using Synopsys design suites For more than 20 years. After entering the Entity Listthe company did not lose access to these toolsonly access to them was difficult to be forced to establish license agreements to be able to use them. If Trump’s order is fulfilled, it will not be possible to renew these agreements or access to the software of these companies.

Immediately after the intentions of the US administration, local companies such as Empyrean Technology, Primarius Techonologies and Semitonix, have seen the price of the action around 20%. These companies are specialized in the development of software solutions for semiconductors, and are some of the main names that sound after Trump’s threat.

Even in the air. Although sources consulted by Financial Times affirm that the United States Industry and Security Office (BIS) is issuing this new directive through letters to companies, some like Synopsys have not taken long to uncheck.

“We are aware of the rumors and speculation, but Synopsys has not received any official communication from the Bis. That is why we keep our annual forecasts unchanged, based on our current understanding of the export restrictions of the BIS and in the forecast of an interannual fall of the income from China.”

Cadence and Siemens, for the moment, have not made statements about it.

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