Bug localization continues to be a challenge for both bug triage and root-cause analysis. Agentic approaches suggest a way forward. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO and lecturer at Stanford, EE292A) and I continue our series on research ideas.… Read More
WEBINAR: Is Agentic AI the Future of EDA?
The semiconductor industry is entering a transformative era, and few trends are generating more discussion or confusion than Agentic AI. From autonomous design exploration to next-generation verification strategies, Agentic AI promises dramatic changes in how chips are conceived, validated, and delivered. But as with … Read More
Emulator-Like Simulation Acceleration on GPUs. Innovation in Verification
GPUs have been proposed before to accelerate logic simulation but haven’t quite met the need yet. This is a new attempt based on emulating emulator flows. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO and lecturer at Stanford, EE292A) and I continue our series… Read More
Neurosymbolic code generation. Innovation in Verification
Early last year we talked about state space models, a recent advance over large language modeling with some appealing advantages. In this blog we introduce neurosymbolic methods, another advance in foundation technologies, here applied to automated code generation. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano… Read More
Cadence’s Strategic Leap: Acquiring Hexagon’s Design & Engineering Business
In a bold move that underscores the accelerating convergence of electronic design automation (EDA) and mechanical engineering, Cadence Design Systems announced its agreement to acquire Hexagon AB’s Design & Engineering (D&E) business for approximately €2.7 billion, equivalent to about $3.16 billion. This… Read More
Cocotb for Verification. Innovation in Verification
This time let’s see if we can stir up some lively debate. Cocotb isn’t new but it is an interesting alternative to mainstream testing methodologies. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO and lecturer at Stanford, EE292A) and I continue our series … Read More
A Big Step Forward to Limit AI Power Demand
By now everyone knows that AI has become the all-consuming driver in tech and that NVIDIA GPU-based platforms are the dominant enabler of this revolution. Datacenters worldwide are stuffed with such GPUs, serving AI workloads from automatically drafting emails and summarizing meetings to auto-creating software and controlling… Read More
Streamlining Functional Verification for Multi-Die and Chiplet Designs
As multi-die and chiplet-based system designs become more prevalent in advanced electronics, much of the focus has been on physical design challenges. However, verification—particularly functional correctness and interoperability of inter-die connections—is just as critical. Interfaces such as UCIe or custom interconnects… Read More
Chiplets and Cadence at #62DAC
Using chiplets is an emerging trend well-covered at #62DAC and they even had a dedicated Chiplet Pavilion, so I checked out the presentation from Dan Slocombe, Design Engineering Architect in the Compute Solutions Group at Cadence. In a short 20 minutes Dan managed to cover a lot of ground, so this blog will summarize the key points.… Read More
Prompt Engineering for Security: Innovation in Verification
We have a shortage of reference designs to test detection of security vulnerabilities. An LLM-based method demonstrates how to fix that problem with structured prompt engineering. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO and lecturer at Stanford,… Read More
