The instructions come after the U.S. Commerce Department warned companies about using artificial intelligence chips from China's Huawei.

Shares of chip design software makers Cadence and Synopsys tumbled in Wednesday trading after the Financial Times reported that the White House told them to stop selling to clients in China.

Cadence stock declined nearly 11%, while Synopsys was down about 10%.

The Bureau of Industry and Security under the U.S. Commerce Department sent letters to both companies and to Siemens, the newspaper said.