*

U.S. curbs caused Synopsys ( SNPS ) to temporarily halt China

services

*

Resumed services target existing clients

*

Essential EDA tool sales still suspended, limiting growth

By Liam Mo and Brenda Goh

BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - Synopsys ( SNPS ) has

resumed offering some services in China, relaxing a suspension

it implemented earlier this month to comply with new U.S. export

curbs, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told

Reuters.

As tensions flared between the world's two largest economies

last month, Washington ordered a broad range of companies to

stop shipping goods to China.

The decision led Synopsys ( SNPS ), a California-based provider of

semiconductor design software, to halt sales and services in

China and shut down access to its SolvNet customer support site.

Synopsys ( SNPS ) resumed some services last week, however, including

sales of non-core hardware and intellectual property that allow

it to serve some existing clients, said the source, who declined

to be named as they were not permitted to speak to the media.

Synopsys ( SNPS ) did not immediately respond to a request for

comment on Thursday.

SolvNet has also reopened with restrictions, including

limits on access to some Electronic Design Automation

software-related documents, the source added.

But sales of essential EDA tools remain suspended, meaning

that Synopsys ( SNPS ) will still be unable to attract new customers as

its intellectual property and hardware cannot be put to use, the

source said.

The IP consists of code the company sells to users for chip

design, while the hardware systems such as HAPS and ZeBu are

part of Synopsys' ( SNPS ) hardware-assisted verification product

portfolio, primarily used for verification of acceleration

processes.

EDA software is used to compile IP and other designs

onto hardware.

Synopsys ( SNPS ), along with Cadence and Siemens EDA

, dominates the EDA software chipmakers can use to

design semiconductors for everything from smartphones to

computers and cars. The three companies control more than 70% of

China's EDA market, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported in

April.

Long-term restrictions on Chinese chip design companies'

access to the tools would deal a significant blow to the

industry in China.

Synopsys ( SNPS ) suspended its annual and quarterly forecasts after

the U.S. implemented the restrictions, as they cast uncertainty

over its ability to sell chip design software in China.