The Trump Administration has ramped up the trade war with China, after reportedly ordering a range of US firms to halt sales to that country.

The Financial Times reported the Trump administration has told US companies that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups.

It comes as the US continues to seeks ways to make it harder for China to develop advanced chips amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Export controls, tariffs

For example in April, Washington had restricted the export of Nvidia’s China-specific AI chips.

Then in May Nvidia’s founder and boss of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, publicly criticised the American chip export controls to China, but days later praised Donald Trump’s decision to suspend the punitive tariffs against China for 90 days.

And now a US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs against many countries around the world (including China), in a major blow to his economic policies.

Amid this, the FT reported that several people familiar with the move said the US Department of Commerce had told so-called electronic design automation groups – which include Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA – to stop supplying their technology to China.

The Bureau of Industry and Security, which is part of the US commerce department that oversees export controls, issued the directive to the companies via letters, the people told the Financial Times.

But it was unclear if every US EDA company had received a letter, it reported.

On its second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Synopsys chief executive Sassine Ghazi reportedly said:

“We are aware of the reporting and speculation, but Synopsys has not received a notice from BIS. So, our guidance that we are reiterating for the full year reflects our current understanding of BIS export restrictions, as well as our expectations for a year-over-year decline in China [revenue].”

The FT reported that an official from the commerce department said it was “reviewing exports of strategic significance to China. In some cases, [the department] has suspended existing export licences or imposed additional licence requirements while the review is pending.”

Chemical restrictions

Meanwhile Reuters also reported that the US has ordered a broad swathe of companies to stop shipping goods to China without a license and revoked licenses already granted to certain suppliers.

According to Reuters, products affected include design software and chemicals for semiconductors, butane and ethane, machine tools, and aviation equipment.

It reported that firms that supply electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductors were sent letters last Friday that licenses would now be needed to ship to Chinese customers, two of the sources said.

The electronic design automation software makers include Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens EDA, a subsidiary of Siemens, one source told Reuters.