Empyrean Technology Explained

Empyrean Technology Co., Ltd.
Trading Name:Empyrean
Native Name:北京华大九天科技股份有限公司
Type:Public
State-owned enterprise
Location:Beijing, China
Founder:Liu Weiping
Key People:Liu Weiping (Chairman)
Yang Xiaodong (CEO)
Revenue: (2023)
Net Income: (2023)
Assets: (2023)
Equity: (2023)
Owners:China Electronics Corporation
China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund
Num Employees:1,023 (2023)
Industry:Semiconductors
Software
Footnotes:[1]

Empyrean Technology (Empyrean;) is a partially state-owned publicly listed Chinese electronic design automation (EDA) company headquartered in Beijing.

Background

Empyrean was founded in 2009 by Liu Weiping who worked on China's first domestic EDA tool 'Panda'.[2]

Empyrean was funded by various state entities which include China Electronics Corporation, China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and Shenzhen Capital Group.[3] [4]

The establishment of Empyrean broke the EDA monopoly which was held by foreign companies such as Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Siemens EDA and is seen as a way for China to achieve self sufficiency in the EDA industry.[5] However, according to Guosen Securities, 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 becoming a listed company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.[6] 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 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, while its digital tools can fully support 7 nm process.[7]

In December 2024, Empyrean was targeted in a new round of US export controls and added to the United States Department of Commerce's Entity List. Empyrean stated the impact is “generally controllable”.[8]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023 Annual Report . Sina . 5 October 2024 . 6 October 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241006031827/https://file.finance.sina.com.cn/211.154.219.97:9494/MRGG/CNSESZ_STOCK/2024/2024-4/2024-04-18/9988694.PDF . live .
  2. Web site: 3 June 2021 . 国内最强"芯片之母"来了!华大九天冲刺创业板 !80%市场被国外垄断,追赶之路任重道远 _ 证券时报网 . 11 October 2024 . news.stcn.com.
  3. Web site: Pan . Che . 24 June 2022 . China firm challenging US dominance in chip design software gets IPO approval . 11 October 2024 . South China Morning Post . en.
  4. Web site: Davies . Christian . 24 October 2024 . China struggles to break US chip design 'chokehold' . 2024-10-25 . Financial Times.
  5. Web site: Liang . Amanda . 25 April 2024 . China's domestic EDA market share doubled, thanks to support from 3,451 local IC design firms . 11 October 2024 . DIGITIMES . en.
  6. Web site: Cao . Ann . 3 July 2023 . Top chip design tool makers see growth ahead in China's car market . 11 October 2024 . South China Morning Post . en.
  7. How Innovative Is China in Semiconductors? . Ezell . Stephen . 19 August 2024 . en.
  8. Web site: Cao . Ann . 2024-12-03 . Chip war: Chinese firms play down fresh US sanctions, tout local supply chain . 2024-12-04 . South China Morning Post . en.