Chip design software EDA overlord, Synopsys’ next battle is aimed at AI

From designing to manufacturing a chip into a finished product, the assistance of various equipment is indispensable.

The well-known lithography machines, etching machines and other machines are all hardware equipment, and their status in the chip industry is extremely high. In addition to hardware devices, software tools that are rarely mentioned are also very important.

EDA is one of the most important software tools. EDA is the abbreviation of Electronic Design Automation (Electronics Design Automation), developed from the concept of Computer Aided Design (CAD) in the mid-1960s. It can be understood as: the software designer “puts” real electronic components into the software, and the developer can use the electronic components in the software to truly simulate the circuits and structures in the chip.

Picture: EDA design software Source: Synopsys

EDA is at the top of the chip industry chain and is an indispensable tool for chip design and production. Using EDA tools, the entire process of chip circuit design, performance analysis, and IC layout design can be automatically processed by the computer, which improves work efficiency and chip accuracy.

Without professional EDA tools, the design and manufacture of integrated circuits and semiconductors is unthinkable. Although EDA is very important, the market for EDA is very small. The current global total is about 7 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for only a fraction of the entire integrated circuit market.

The beacon to solve the pain points of the industry

Synopsys was established in California in 1987. At the beginning of its birth, Synopsys just caught up with the third revolution in EDA technology.

The first two generations of EDA technology were not done automatically by a computer, but a delicate handwork. It requires the designer to manually process each transistor and connect the thousands of nodes used on the silicon chip, which is an uncompromising labor-intensive task. With the improvement of transistor integration and the continuous shrinking of the size, human beings can no longer complete this work by hand.

The third-generation EDA technology needs to be improved urgently.

At a time when the industry needs to be a beacon, Synopsys has developed a new software technology called Synthesis. With Synthesis, designers can use computer language to “write” the function of the circuit, instead of describing it with a single “logic gate”.

This software can automatically create circuit logic chains, reducing a lot of work time for circuit designers, so that engineers can focus more on creative design solutions instead of doing a lot of manual and mechanical work.

Synopsys also became famous in one fell swoop, ushering in a new era of EDA technology, and its revenue also ushered in a spurt of growth. In 1987, Synopsys' revenue reached US$130,000; in 1988, revenue reached US$976,000, an increase of 7 times; in 1989, revenue reached US$7.3 million, a 7-fold increase again.

Acquisition and authorization, becoming the industry leader

With a lot of funds, Synopsys began to expand its territory. Facing a market with many players and fierce competition, acquisition is an excellent method.

In 1900, as Synopsys realized the importance of “hardware description languages” (hardware description languages, HDL), Synopsys acquired the VHDL simulation business of Zycad, and launched comprehensive testing products.

Later history proved that Synopsys' judgment was correct, and VHDL language is now the most popular high-level abstract design language.

During the ten years from 1990 to 1999, Synopsys, which completed 20 acquisitions, has confirmed its leading position in the market. After entering the 21st century, Synopsys began a larger-scale merger and acquisition. In 2002, Synopsys became the first EDA tool manufacturer in the history of EDA to provide a complete IC design solution for the front and back ends. In 2008, Synopsys surpassed Cadence to become the world’s largest EDA tool manufacturer.

At this point, Synopsys has officially ascended to the dominant position.

In addition to the acquisition, the new Cisco technology broke the siege, but also benefited from their use of the IP authorization model.

When it comes to this model, we have to mention ARM. As the pioneer of this model, ARM will virtualize various design libraries and then license them to other companies. In the past, when chip processors were delivered, they were delivered in kind. The emergence of the ARM IP authorization model means that the form of product delivery can no longer be a specific physical object, but a digital IP module. In this way, other companies can continue to develop on this architecture.

ARM’s semi-customized model has had a significant impact on the entire semiconductor industry. Physical entities have become software-defined, which can also meet the different needs of different manufacturers. Major manufacturers have cooperated with ARM to join this camp.

And Synopsys quickly noticed the value of this model, and it quickly opened up this position, making IP module licensing revenue an important part of its revenue. After more than 20 years of development, Synopsys' IP licensing business has maintained a high growth rate, and has now become the second largest IP licenser after ARM.

AI brings new changes and opportunities

The arrival of the new era of AI has also brought new vitality to the industry. If you want to port AI to smart phones, Internet of Vehicles, IoT and other terminals, AI chips with deep learning capabilities become indispensable.

According to the latest report released by the market research organization ABI Research: the cloud AI chip market will grow from US$4.2 billion in 2019 to US$10 billion in 2024; the edge AI chip market will also continue to expand at an average annual growth rate of 31%. As an indispensable role in AI chip design, EDA is also being promoted by semiconductor software and hardware companies, entrepreneurs, and developers to usher in new changes and opportunities.

Compared with previous chips without deep learning functions, AI chips need to pursue goals such as lower power consumption, higher performance, and smaller area. Integrating more and more transistors in a smaller and smaller unit area requires more complex process devices, and changes in the interaction between circuits and thermophysical effects, which means that the entire design process needs to be rethinked , EDA tools must also keep pace with the times to meet the above requirements.

At the same time, the fierce competition in the market for AI smart products has made developers increasingly demanding design cycles, the design of chips has become larger and more restrictive, all of which are forcing EDA manufacturers to upgrade.

In the face of market changes, Synopsys did not relax its vigilance. Synopsys has also launched an embedded image processor with a built-in neural network engine to meet the design requirements for high-speed memory access. It also provides IP options that ensure the security of AI data at the early stage of chip development. Many domestic AI companies use Synopsys EDA tools.

With the blessing of the Matthew Effect, Synopsys' market dominance should be difficult to shake for the time being.

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