Chip Design – Coming of Age in the Computer Age

Let’s now look at what we’ve managed to accomplish since the 1980’s. That’s over 30 years. What did we get done in all that time? A lot actually.

To start with, an industry segment was born. Electronic design automation (EDA) didn’t exist in the late 1970s. Those were arguably the early years of the computer age of chip design. Graphics design was king. The big three companies were Applicon, Calma and Computervision. You’ll find history on the first two companies in the comments from my prior post. In those days, it was called computer-aided design (CAD).

It all changed in the early 1980s. The complex software needed to design and build ICs became available on a merchant basis. This software was no longer just available to big, vertically integrated companies who could afford to hire teams of software developers (like Bell Labs and RCA). Access to EDA software was now in reach for everyone, thanks to the early pioneers at Daisy Systems, Mentor Graphics and Valid Logic. The birth of EDA started a growth trend for semiconductors that lasted a long, long time. The industry evolved from an elite market to a democratized market – custom ICs were no longer just a rich person’s game. Coincidental with the birth of the EDA industry was the birth of the ASIC industry.

As EDA grew and matured, consolidation occurred. Daisy merged with Cadnetix and Valid was bought by Cadence. Mentor continued as Mentor. Today the big three are Synopsys, Cadence and Mentor. Business innovation was prevalent as the EDA industry matured and learned how to build, market, sell and support complex software. But what of technical innovation? There are many significant innovations that have advanced the state of the art. In the interest of time, I will touch on one.

Logic synthesis. What started as a thesis project for a talented engineer working at GE Semiconductor became a major discontinuity in IC design and a new force in EDA. The engineer is Aart de Geus and the company is Synopsys. The idea to automate the creation of logic gates from a high-level language embodies the principles of raising abstraction levels, re-using IP and automating design. Aart really nailed it with this one. It took quite a few years to catch on, but it clearly changed the course of the industry.

In more recent times, something is amiss however. The glory days of democratized silicon access and large numbers of chip start-ups has given way to very expensive design projects and a shrinking base of start-ups. Design at advanced process nodes is once again a rich person’s game. The elite market is back. A handful of foundries can build them and a handful of companies can afford to buy them. So the question is, what happens next? Has the cycle finished, or is there another wave of growth on the horizon? And if so, what are the catalysts that make it happen? We have to look beyond the computer age to find answers. More next time.

From Mike Gianfagna of eSilicon

Also Read: Chip Design Problems Remain the Same, More or Less