EDA CEO Forecast Panel 2008- Part 2

Growth Areas in EDA

Two areas were primarily highlighted as high growth areas for EDA. These are not really a surprise as both ESL and DFM have been high growth areas for the past 3 years. Recollect that both ESL and DFM began as a collection of point tools. We see the classic evolutionary path again- point tools merging into flows that are then hooked up to existing flows to extract maximum ROI in terms of design productivity.

Why have these been high growth areas? Point tools usually develop to address a void created by a discontinuity. Every time the semiconductor industry moves to a new technology node a discontinuity occurs. EDA tools historically were developed to span design needs for two nodes at a time. So the 130/90 node saw a whole new set of tools develop for synthesis, simulation, and manufacturing and yield analysis and the beginnings of this generation of ESL tools.

This is the 3rd generation of ESL tools that we are currently seeing and the impetus is coming from not just the 65/45 node but the upcoming 32nm node. ESL is still in the point tools stage though DFM has moved faster to create a more automated flow.

As one of the CEOs on the panel pointed out- EDA has historically grown by solving new problems. Each technology generation has created new problems to be solved which is then followed by a spurt of growth as customers upgrade their tools to take advantage of new tools to address design complexity and productivity. The industry is in a state of transformation as the CEO pointed out and the companies that make it to the other side are going to be the leaders of the next generation of the EDA industry.