To limit the US want the sale software for the development of semiconductors in China. The DAX listed company Siemens confirmed their corresponding restrictions on Handelsblatt. The measure aims to slow down chip growth in China.
Jost Wübbeke of Sinolytics, a consulting company specializing in China, described the move as a “nuclear choice”. While previous US technological restrictions were mainly limited to high -performance chips, restrictions will now affect the entire Chinese semiconductor industry, he told Handelsblatt. On May 23, the US government informed E -Design Automation Software (EDA) “About new EDA export controls to China and Chinese military end users worldwide,” Siemens said.
The Financial Times reported yesterday, citing experts, that the US government had issued an order banning de facto to sell EDA software to China.
The timing is explosive, as the US and China agreed in Geneva in early May a 90 -day pause in the trade dispute. Previously, the world’s two largest economies had increasing higher punitive duties on imports from the other country – causing massive disorders of global supply chains.
Fragile truce in trade dispute
Experts had already warned after this agreement that today’s relaxation of tensions could only be short -lived. New export controls for EDA software seem to justify them. They could mitigate the euphoria for the ruling of the US court of Wednesday, with which the majority of punitive duties imposed by US President Donald Trump was declared illegal.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese chip design companies depend on US EDA tools, says China expert Wübbeke. This also applies to car manufacturers, for example, who design their own chips.
Although there are Chinese alternatives, “they are still far from being a sustainable replacement,” he explained. The replacement of American software would be time -consuming and expensive. Restrictions could “may” delay China’s progress in the semiconductor for several years, “the expert said. He assumes that some companies are trying to bridge short -term difficulties with outdated or unacceptable software.
In addition, there are further references to the media on new export controls on aircraft engines, machine tools, semiconductor chemicals and gases butter and ethane. This was reported by the Reuters news agency and the New York Times, citing experts.
The controversy between China and the US over chips had already peaked in recent days. In mid -May, the US has warned companies around the world not to use advanced artificial intelligence chips from the Chinese Huawei Telecommunications Manufacturing Company. Companies, however, using Huawei AI semiconductors were threatened with sanctions under US export controls. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce strongly criticized this fact and spoke of a “serious violation” of the agreements concluded in early May.
Are affected by Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens
The Chinese side has not yet responded to new EDA software restrictions. US companies Cadence and Synopsys are affected as well as Siemens Eda, a subsidiary of Siemens Digital Industries, which account for about 80% of the EDA Chinese market.
According to industry circles, Synopsys and Cadence are more affected by Siemens in terms of volume and share of overall tasks. Synopsys made sales of nearly one billion dollars in China during the last financial year, about 16% of its turnover. Cadence was about $ 550 million, that is, twelve percent of the turnover. Siemens does not separate the Chinese sales of its activity in the EDA sector separately. The group as a whole makes about eleven percent of its revenue in China.
However, the situation is difficult for all providers, it was said. Customers could continue to use the software, but the service should be limited. New businesses are also affected. We should also wait to see how China will react. Given the extent of the impact, Wübbeke expert awaits a “corresponding reaction” from China.
Some observers believe that restrictions on EDA software exports are a US reaction to Chinese ongoing export controls in the sector of rare earths and rare earth metals.
US wants to slow China’s progress in artificial intelligence
New technological restrictions are another attempt to slow China’s progress in high performance chip development, which are particularly essential for artificial intelligence applications. Since October 2022, the US has increasingly restricted exports of technologies for semiconductor growth and production to China.
In the meantime, not only the export of high performance chips themselves, but also the delivery of state -of -the -art machinery for their production has been banned. In April, Washington also limited the export of artificial intelligence chip specifically for China by the leading Nvidia manufacturer.
However, even in the light of China’s recent successes in the field of artificial intelligence, such as those achieved by the newly formed Deepseek company, there are doubts about the extent to which the restrictions are effective. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has recently described the repeated efforts of the US authorities to prevent the development of China’s artificial intelligence through export controls.
China’s leadership invests billions in building its own chip industry. The aim is to become less dependent on foreign technology and less vulnerable to western technological sanctions. Huawei plays a central role in it. The IT equipment manufacturer is extremely controversial in the West. It has been on the US sanctions list since 2019 and has largely been cut off from access to US technologies.
For external observers, however, progress in China’s chip development is difficult to evaluate, as companies are rarely revealing information, in part for fear of further sanctions.