White House lifts chip design export ban on China in exchange for rare earth materials compromise — export licences for EDA software sales no longer required

Synopsys.

The U.S. government on Thursday revoked U.S. export curbs that required American companies to obtain licenses to provide chip design software to customers in China, as part of an agreement intended to ease bilateral trade tensions around advanced technologies, reports Bloomberg. In exchange, China will ease export controls on rare earth materials.

The Commerce Department formally informed Cadence Design Systems, Siemens EDA, and Synopsys that they no longer needed government approvals to offer their electronic design automation (EDA) products to Chinese entities. As a result, all three companies can immediately reinstate access to their tools for Chinese chipmakers, which can now continue designing their processors using world-class EDA tools. This is crucially important for companies in China, as design software from Cadence, Siemens, and Synopsys is by far more versatile than tools developed in China.