EDA Shapes Its Future

Brian Bailey, Semiconductor Engineering
March 27th, 2014

Battle lines are being drawn as the EDA industry attempts to grow outside of its traditional markets, but some say not so fast.

In part one of this series, Semiconductor Engineering looked at growth within the EDA industry and the types of approaches being made to expand the scope of the markets that they serve. Scope expansion comes from the creation of new tools, the growth of companies in the IP space and the various ways in which opportunities can be found in new markets. Additional growth opportunities come from solving problems in vertical market segments such as automotive, or having an increased presence in markets where the lines are blurring. Examples of this include embedded software or the need to perform system analysis that may involve both electronics and mechanical.

In the past, the major EDA companies all followed similar paths, but with so many possibilities being presented to them, we are beginning to see a divergence in their strategies that may make the three companies look very different from each other in the future.

EDA growth opportunities are divided into several buckets. Selling new tools to existing customers is one technique that all EDA companies will continue to pursue even if the top line growth is small. “Core EDA remains the primary business for Cadence,” says Craig Cochran vice president of corporate marketing at Cadence. “Our customers count on us to keep innovating in this area.”

The same story is told by all of the major EDA companies. However, that is the extent of the similarities in their strategies.