Cadence to plead guilty, pay US$140 million to US for sales to Chinese military university

Cadence is accused of illegally selling chip design software and hardware to the National University of Defence Technology

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Cadence Design Systems’ offices in San Jose, California. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 29 Jul 2025

Cadence Design agreed to plead guilty and pay more than US$140 million to resolve US charges for selling its chip design products to a Chinese military university believed to be involved in simulating nuclear explosions, the US Justice Department said on Monday.

Cadence is accused of violating export controls by illegally selling chip design software and hardware to front companies representing China’s National University of Defence Technology (NUDT).

NUDT’s supercomputers are thought to support nuclear explosive simulation and military simulation activities, according to US Commerce Department notices restricting shipments to the university.

San Jose, California-based Cadence noted a charge related to the legal proceedings in its quarterly results, also released on Monday. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was “pleased” to reach settlements with the justice and commerce departments.

Cadence shares rose 6.5 per cent after it posted the news and its quarterly results.

The National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, China’s central Hunan province. Photo: Wikipedia

The deal, which comes as the US and China meet for new trade talks, shows the US is still willing to enforce export controls on China, even as it relaxes some of the restrictions as part of negotiations.

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