The U.S. has lifted export license requirements for the sale of chip design software to China as part of a new trade deal, according to Mackenzie Hawkins of Bloomberg. This change allows major software providers, such as Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens, to resume business in China. The move reflects progress in easing tech restrictions while maintaining limits on critical chip exports. Hawkins writes:
President Donald Trump’s administration has lifted recent export license requirements for chip design software sales in China, as Washington and Beijing implement a trade deal for both countries to ease some restrictions on critical technologies.
The US Commerce Department informed the world’s three leading semiconductor design software providers — Synopsys Inc., Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Germany’s Siemens AG — that requirements to seek government licenses for business in China are no longer in place, according to company statements. […]
Ultimately, some Washington officials were relieved to see the US offer what they saw as lower-priority semiconductor concessions to Beijing, Bloomberg has reported — safeguarding, at least for now, the Nvidia chip export limits they view as vital. But some also see controls on EDA as a crucial step in their own right, one that that shouldn’t be negotiated away as part of any trade deal. […]
EDA companies, meanwhile, are contending with a new worry, Bloomberg has reported: Even with access to the Chinese market restored, customers there may hunt for other suppliers or further develop domestic capabilities in response to heightened geopolitical risks.
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