Synopsys Stops Business in China Due to US Rules
Okay, so get this: Synopsys, which makes software for designing computer chips, told its employees in China to pretty much stop everything. Like, no more selling stuff or taking new orders there. Why? Well, it seems like the US government put some new rules in place, and Synopsys is trying to follow the law.
Reuters reported that the US told a bunch of companies to stop sending certain things to China unless they got a special OK. They even took away some approvals that were already given. This whole thing is about things like design software and chemicals that are used to make chips. Synopsys even had to change their predictions for the year and the next few months because of a letter they got about these new rules.
The letter they sent to their staff in China on Friday basically said that these rules mean they can't really sell their products or services in China anymore, and it started right away on May 29, 2025. So, just to be safe, Synopsys is blocking sales and stopping new orders in China until they figure things out more. This affects everyone in China who uses their stuff, even people from other countries who are working there and, yikes, even Chinese military users no matter where they are.
This is a pretty big deal, and nobody had reported on these steps Synopsys is taking before now. Synopsys didn't want to talk about it when asked.
Synopsys is one of the big players in the chip design software world, along with Cadence and Siemens. They make this special software that chip companies use to design the chips that go into everything from our phones to our cars. If Chinese companies can't get this software, it's a pretty big problem for their chip industry because they really rely on these top-notch US tools. Xinhua, which is a Chinese news agency, said back in April that Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens control over 70% of the chip design software market in China. Some of the Chinese companies that use Synopsys and Cadence include Brite Semiconductor, Zhuhai Jieli, and VeriSilicon.
Oh, and get this: the letter sent to staff in China also mentioned that Chinese customers can't even get into their customer support website anymore. So, yeah, things are changing pretty fast in the chip world because of all this.
