US Pushes to Ban Export of Core AI Semiconductor Design and Manufacturing Software to China

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The Joe Biden administration in the United States is reportedly pushing to ban the export of core software for AI semiconductor design and manufacturing to China.

According to IT specialized media Protocol on the 3rd (local time), the White House recently instructed the Department of Commerce to control the export of semiconductor electronic design automation (EDA) software. The Department of Commerce has been reviewing this matter for several months and is expected to impose EDA export regulations within weeks, Protocol reported. The details have not yet been finalized, Protocol added.

This is interpreted as targeting Chinese companies advancing AI application development. EDA is essential software for chip manufacturing using next-generation transistor Gate All Around (GAA) technology, produced by Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens, and others. Samsung Electronics announced in June that it had started mass production of the world's first 3-nanometer process applying GAA technology.

The main customers of U.S. chip design software companies are in China. According to reports submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 13% and 17% of Cadence's and Synopsys's revenues, respectively, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 were generated in China. Protocol stated that this plan by the Biden administration is an expansion of semiconductor-related export controls directed at China.

Earlier, Bloomberg News reported last month that the U.S. Department of Commerce sent a letter to all domestic semiconductor equipment companies instructing them not to export equipment applying manufacturing technology finer than 14 nanometers (nm; 1 nm = one billionth of a meter) to China. The Dutch semiconductor equipment company ASML was reportedly asked not to sell to China its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, which it is the only producer of worldwide, as well as its older deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.