SK Hynix has begun an emergency inspection of Chinese semiconductor electronic design automation (EDA) software. It is a preemptive measure in anticipation of the second term of Donald Trump’s administration restricting the use of Chinese software by Korean semiconductor companies as well.
According to the semiconductor industry on the 16th, SK Hynix is confirmed to be reviewing the suitability of the Chinese EDA software it is using. EDA is a software used when designing and verifying system semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) designs, and is used to simulate various circuit designs and predict results before making semiconductor chips. Since all chips must be scrapped if a defect is found after they are completed, it is a kind of preemptive program. This is why there is a saying, "Without EDA, there is no semiconductor design for the latest process."
This market is dominated by more than 70% of American companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens EDA. However, in recent years, as China has been pouring out ‘cost-effective EDA’, China’s share has been gradually increasing. Such companies include Empyrean, Primarius, and Entasis. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which used to mainly use American products, have also recently started using Chinese products. This is because Chinese companies, whose export routes to the US have been blocked, have strengthened their sales at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
SK Hynix's emergency inspection is largely in response to the Trump administration's additional sanctions on China. It is also analyzed that the fact that Empyrean Korea, a Korean branch of a Chinese EDA company, was designated as a U.S. restricted company late last year also had an impact.
The industry expects that SK Hynix will completely stop using Chinese EDA. This is because it does not want to have an uncomfortable relationship with the United States, a 'big player' in the semiconductor market. The fact that the proportion of Chinese EDA is not large is also contributing to this observation. The industry also expects that Samsung Electronics, which has been using Chinese EDA such as Empyrean, Primarius, and Entasis since 2022, will make the same decision.
If Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix cut off Chinese EDA, their dependence on the US will increase, and semiconductor design costs will rise accordingly. This is because US EDA is more than twice as expensive as Chinese EDA. If the supply chain is unified to the US, prices may rise even more. An industry insider predicted, “If Chinese EDA, which has similar performance to US EDA but costs less than half, is phased out, design-related costs for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will eventually rise.”
An SK Hynix official said, “We are reviewing whether to use it as the time has come to renew our contract for Chinese EDA.”
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According to the semiconductor industry on the 16th, SK Hynix is confirmed to be reviewing the suitability of the Chinese EDA software it is using. EDA is a software used when designing and verifying system semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) designs, and is used to simulate various circuit designs and predict results before making semiconductor chips. Since all chips must be scrapped if a defect is found after they are completed, it is a kind of preemptive program. This is why there is a saying, "Without EDA, there is no semiconductor design for the latest process."
This market is dominated by more than 70% of American companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens EDA. However, in recent years, as China has been pouring out ‘cost-effective EDA’, China’s share has been gradually increasing. Such companies include Empyrean, Primarius, and Entasis. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which used to mainly use American products, have also recently started using Chinese products. This is because Chinese companies, whose export routes to the US have been blocked, have strengthened their sales at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
SK Hynix's emergency inspection is largely in response to the Trump administration's additional sanctions on China. It is also analyzed that the fact that Empyrean Korea, a Korean branch of a Chinese EDA company, was designated as a U.S. restricted company late last year also had an impact.
The industry expects that SK Hynix will completely stop using Chinese EDA. This is because it does not want to have an uncomfortable relationship with the United States, a 'big player' in the semiconductor market. The fact that the proportion of Chinese EDA is not large is also contributing to this observation. The industry also expects that Samsung Electronics, which has been using Chinese EDA such as Empyrean, Primarius, and Entasis since 2022, will make the same decision.
If Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix cut off Chinese EDA, their dependence on the US will increase, and semiconductor design costs will rise accordingly. This is because US EDA is more than twice as expensive as Chinese EDA. If the supply chain is unified to the US, prices may rise even more. An industry insider predicted, “If Chinese EDA, which has similar performance to US EDA but costs less than half, is phased out, design-related costs for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will eventually rise.”
An SK Hynix official said, “We are reviewing whether to use it as the time has come to renew our contract for Chinese EDA.”
[단독] SK하이닉스, 中 반도체 EDA 퇴출시키나…"트럼프 규제 선제 대응"
SK하이닉스가 중국산 반도체 전자설계자동화(EDA) 소프트웨어 긴급 점검에 들어갔다. 도널드 트럼프 2기 정부가 한국 반도체 기업에 대해서도 중국 소프트웨어 사용을 규제할 것으로 보고 사전 대응에 나선 것이다. 16일 반도체업계에 따르면 SK하이닉스는 사용 중인 중국산 EDA 소프트웨어의 적절성을 검토하고 있는 것으로 확인됐다. EDA는 시스템 반도체 집적
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