Cadence Design Systems Inc has pleaded guilty to charges accusing the company of contravening US export controls by selling hardware and software to China’s National University of Defense Technology.
The San Jose, California-based company, a maker of chip design tools, said it took a one-time charge of US$140.6 million related to settling cases brought by the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
The Chinese institution is under military control and was placed on the commerce department’s entity list in 2015 for using US components to produce computers that support nuclear explosive simulation and military simulation activities, the justice department said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
The breaches occurred from 2015 to 2021, the justice department said.
Doing business in China, the largest market for semiconductors and related technology, has become increasingly difficult for Cadence Design and its peers under increasing restrictions put in place by Washington aimed at protecting national security, but the companies did win a recent reprieve.
US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month lifted a stipulation that required export licenses for chip design software to Chinese customers.
Separately, Cadence Design raised its revenue forecast for this year to between US$5.21 billion and US$5.27 billion.
That compares with an average of analysts’ predictions of US$5.2 billion.
Cadence Design and rival Synopsys Inc dominate the market for software and computers used to design semiconductors and other electronics.
Synopsys earlier this month completed the US$35 billion takeover of Ansys Inc after securing China’s approval amid mounting geopolitical tensions.
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