Empyrean Technology (Empyrean; ) is a partially

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owner ...

publicly listed A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...

Chinese

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together ...

(EDA) company headquartered in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Background

Empyrean was founded in 2009 by Liu Weiping who worked on China's first domestic EDA tool 'Panda'. Empyrean was funded by various state entities which include

China Electronics Corporation China Electronics Corporation (, CEC) is a Chinese state-owned company and one of the largest producers of telecom equipment in China for both civilian and military purposes.

(CEC),

China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund The China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (ICF; ), also known as the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and the Big Fund (), is a China Government Guidance Fund. The fund aims to help China reach its national goal ...

and

Shenzhen Capital Group Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd (SCGC; ) is a state-owned venture capital company based in Shenzhen, China. It is affiliated with the Shenzhen Government and its investments cover industries supported by national policies. According to South C ...

. The establishment of Empyrean broke the EDA monopoly which was held by foreign companies such as

Synopsys Synopsys is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Products include tools for logic synthesis and physical desig ...

Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence), headquartered in San Jose, California, is an American multinational computational software company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The company produces software, ...

, and Siemens EDA and is seen as a way for China to achieve self sufficiency in the EDA industry. However, according to

Guosen Securities Guosen Securities Company Limited ("Guosen Securities", "GSEC" or Chinese: 国信证券) is a Chinese state-owned financial services company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, with more than 70 branches and 11,500 employees nationwide. It has off ...

, Empyrean has three limitations which are lacking support for the full digital chip design process, lacking support for advanced processes and lacking ability to manufacture and test EDA systems. As of April 2024, Empyrean currently holds 6% of China's market share making it the fourth biggest EDA player as well as the largest Chinese domestic EDA player. In July 2022. Empyrean held its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

becoming a listed company on the

Shenzhen Stock Exchange The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exch ...

. The proceeds would be used for several EDA development projects, including building analogue and digital chip design and verification tools. In March 2023, Huawei announced that it would use domestic EDA software capable of the

14 nm process The 14 nm process refers to the MOSFET technology node that is the successor to the 22nm (or 20nm) node. The 14nm was so named by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Until about 2011, the node following 22nm was expe ...

with Empyrean being speculated to be the reason for the breakthrough. In the same year, Empyrean stated its analog tools can already partially support

5 nm process In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems defines the 5 nm process as the MOSFET technology node following the 7 nm node. In 2020, Samsung and TSMC entered volume production of 5 nm ch ...

, while its digital tools can fully support

7 nm process In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors defines the 7 nm process as the MOSFET technology node following the 10 nm node. It is based on FinFET (fin field-effect transistor) technology, a ...

. In December 2024, Empyrean was targeted in a new round of US

export controls Export control is legislation that regulates the export of goods, software and technology. Some items could potentially be useful for purposes that are contrary to the interest of the exporting country. These items are considered to be ''controll ...

and added to the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busi ...

Entity List The Entity List is a trade restriction list published by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), consisting of certain foreign persons, entities, or governments. Entities on the Entity List are subject to U ...

. Empyrean stated the impact is “generally controllable”. Empyrean then ceded control of the company to CEC.

References

External links

* {{Electronics industry in China 2009 establishments in China 2022 initial public offerings Companies based in Beijing Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Electronics companies established in 2009 Electronic design automation companies Government-owned companies of China Semiconductor companies of China Software companies established in 2009 Software companies of China

Background

See also

References

External links