Agentic AI is often presented as a revolutionary shift in semiconductor manufacturing, driven by large language models and generative AI. However, this framing overlooks an important reality: today’s advances are built on decades of prior work. As Jonathan Holt of PDF Solutions emphasizes in his recent keynote at the APCM 2026… Read More
Electronic Design Automation
CEO Interview with Dave Kelf, CEO of Breker Verification Systems
In the functional verification space, Breker Verification Systems stands out for its vast and long-standing understanding and ability to solve many of the seemingly intractable complexity challenges, especially in the system space.
I recently talked with Dave Kelf, Breker’s CEO, who has plenty of good news to share about Breker’s… Read More
The Great Divide: A Tale of Three Hardware Emulation Architectures
Hardware emulation arose as a necessity out of the needs of the eighties. By the mid-1980s, semiconductor designs had outgrown the practical limits of gate-level simulation. Gate-level simulation delivered accuracy, but at glacial pace; silicon prototypes performed at real-speed but arrived far too late. The industry needed… Read More
A Different Angle on Co-Simulation for Systems
Co-simulation, two or more simulations running concurrently in some manner, is not a new idea. I have written before about multiphysics systems able to model thermal, stress, CFD and other factors simultaneously. I just read a white paper from Siemens based on a different method, using an open standard called the Functional Mockup… Read More
Synopsys and TSMC Deepen AI Design Alliance: What It Means
A recent announcement from Synopsys signals a meaningful escalation in the race to build next-generation AI hardware. The expanded collaboration between Synopsys and TSMC brings together silicon-proven IP, AI-driven design tools, and cutting-edge manufacturing processes in a tightly integrated effort to accelerate high-performance… Read More
Siemens U2U 3D IC Design and Verification Panel
Given the success of the event in Silicon Valley last week, I would expect the Siemens U2U event in Munich to be even bigger. In my experience this has been the best user driven event in 2026 with the deepest customer content. EDA has always been a customer driven industry and it is good to see us recognize that from time to time. Kalar … Read More
Solving the EDA tool fragmentation crisis
By Samar Abd El-Hady and Wael ElManhawy
Design teams today face an uncomfortable truth: the specialized tools they need to verify modern ICs can’t reliably share the same design data. As geometries shrink below five nanometers and designs incorporate billions of transistors across multiple dies, no single Electronic… Read More
Complex PCB signoff challenges
Many complex PCB designs have high data-rate signals like USB, PCIe, DDR and HDMI which call for more thorough verification methods to ensure compliance plus mitigate any signal integrity, power integrity and EMI/EMC issues. Siemens has a methodology that uses automated rule-based electrical verification with an EDA tool,… Read More
UX in Agentic Systems. Innovation in Verification
A switch this month to principles behind building effective agentic systems, going beyond simply a new way to stitch together tools, agents and orchestration, to deeper consideration of user experience and how we most effectively blend agentic with human-in-the-loop. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano… Read More
Two Paths for AI in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Platform Integration vs. Point Solutions
Semiconductor manufacturing has become one of the most data-intensive industrial environments in the world, and AI is rapidly becoming central to how fabs operate and optimize. Yet, rather than converging on a single model for AI adoption, the industry is evolving along two distinct paths. One centered on platform-scale… Read More


Intel: Pushing EMIB Forward: Design Methodology Insights with Synopsys Tools