US Chip Design Firm Cadence Fined, Pleads Guilty to Export Violations
Cadence, a California-based electronic design automation firm, will pay more than $140 million in combined civil fines, criminal penalties and forfeitures to resolve allegations that it illegally exported technology to Chinese entities, DOJ and the Bureau of Industry and Security announced July 28. The company pleaded guilty to illegally exporting EDA hardware, software and semiconductor design intellectual property technology to the National University of Defense Technology, a university added to the Commerce Department's Entity List for its ties to the Chinese military, DOJ said.
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The penalty includes a $95 million civil fine by BIS, with half of that fine credited to the amount Cadence owes DOJ. BIS said Cadence committed 61 violations of the Export Administration Regulations and admitted that employees of its Chinese subsidiary knowingly transferred sensitive U.S. technology to entities that develop supercomputers for China's military and nuclear weapons programs, including the National University of Defense Technology, Tianjin Phytium Information Technology and other companies on the Entity List. Cadence also agreed to complete two audits of its export compliance program.