MediaTek Adopts AI-Driven Cadence Virtuoso Studio and Spectre Simulation on NVIDIA Accelerated Computing Platform for 2nm Designs

Latest Virtuoso Studio release and Spectre Simulator deliver a 30% productivity gain for MediaTek’s 2nm design flow compared to prior Virtuoso releases

SAN JOSE, Calif.— January 22, 2025 — Cadence (Nasdaq: CDNS) today announced that MediaTek has adopted the AI-driven Cadence^® Virtuoso^® Studio and Spectre^® X Simulator on the NVIDIA accelerated computing platform for its 2nm development. As design size and complexity continue to escalate, advanced-node technology development has become increasingly challenging for SoC providers. To meet the aggressive performance and turnaround time (TAT) requirements for its 2nm high-speed analog IP, MediaTek is leveraging Cadence’s proven custom/analog design solutions, enhanced by AI, to achieve a 30% productivity gain.

“As MediaTek continues to push technology boundaries for 2nm development, we need a trusted design solution with strong AI-powered tools to achieve our goals,” said Ching San Wu, corporate vice president at MediaTek. “Closely collaborating with Cadence, we have adopted the Cadence Virtuoso Studio and Spectre X Simulator, which deliver the performance and accuracy necessary to achieve our tight design turnaround time requirements. Cadence’s comprehensive automation features enhance our throughput and efficiency, enabling our designers to be 30% more productive.”

Using the Virtuoso ADE Suite, MediaTek has integrated its own AI-powered optimization algorithm in its future product development workflow, improving its designers’ circuit design efficiency. Cadence’s Spectre X running on NVIDIA H100 GPUs delivers the same accuracy as Spectre X running on CPUs while delivering up to a 6X performance improvement for post-layout simulations of large, advanced-node designs.

“Improved performance and efficiency are key to advancing today’s complex chip design processes,” said Dion Harris, director of accelerated computing at NVIDIA. “With Cadence’s Spectre X running on NVIDIA Hopper GPUs, companies like MediaTek can accelerate the verification of their complex post-layout designs, maximize analog circuit simulation performance and reduce time to market.”

MediaTek’s analog layout team has also adopted the Virtuoso Layout Suite device-level router for custom digital blocks in 2nm technology, significantly enhancing layout productivity. Additionally, MediaTek is leveraging AI and Virtuoso’s open platform to customize a prototyping placement and low power prediction flow, which provides another 30% design productivity improvement.

“MediaTek’s validation of our latest Virtuoso Studio release and Spectre X Simulator on NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform demonstrates that Cadence’s continued investment in enhancing our industry-leading custom design solutions and AI tools is a game changer for our customers’ most challenging 2nm designs,” said Vinod Kariat, corporate vice president and general manager of the Custom Products Group at Cadence. “Bringing the power of AI and GPUs to Spectre X enables MediaTek to solve its large-scale verification simulation challenges even more quickly, without sacrificing accuracy.”

Additional Resources

• Video:NVIDIA GPU Accelerated Spice Simulation via Cadence Spectre X Solution
• Blog:Spectre 24.1 Release Now Available
• Blog:Spectre Tech Tips: GPU Integration with Analog Circuit Simulation
• Training:Auto Place and Route (APR) for Virtuoso Studio – Device Level Training

About Cadence

Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic systems design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Cadence customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products from chips to boards to systems for the most dynamic market applications, including hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, consumer, industrial and healthcare. For 10 years in a row, Fortune magazine has named Cadence one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Learn more at cadence.com.