AI Semiconductor Design at 3nm and 2nm: Silicon-Proven IP

By Vinod Khera

August 3, 2026

As AI workloads scale in size, complexity, and performance requirements, delivering advanced‑node silicon becomes increasingly demanding, as there is little room for uncertainty. Semiconductor teams must move faster while minimizing risk, as advanced process nodes such as 3nm and 2nm introduce tighter design constraints, making predictability, correlation, and silicon design confidence essential to success.

In this second blog of our ongoing series, we examine how Cadence, in close partnership with TSMC, helps teams accelerate AI silicon design at advanced process nodes. For customers, this translates into reduced design risk, faster convergence to tapeout‑quality results, and greater confidence at the leading edge of AI and HPC design.

Design for AI Silicon: Building Predictability at Advanced Nodes

As AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads scale, advanced node designs must meet aggressive power and performance targets while navigating tighter design rules, greater sensitivity to multiphysics effects, and shrinking margins for error. In this environment, achieving first‑pass success requires more than architectural innovation.

Advanced‑node AI silicon design demands more than point tools or isolated IP. It requires a signoff‑ready infrastructure that spans the full design cycle and scales from advanced‑node SoCs to chiplet‑based and 3D‑IC architectures.

Cadence's Design for AI strategy addresses these challenges and enables semiconductor teams with certified, end-to-end EDA flows that scale from advanced-node SoCs to chiplet and 3D-IC designs. Together, these elements help customers reduce iterations, improve correlation, and achieve better tapeout predictability.

Why Cadence's Design for AI Strategy Matters

Cadence's Design for AI strategy is focused on helping semiconductor teams build next‑generation AI and HPC chips faster and with greater confidence. In collaboration with TSMC, Cadence delivers validated, signoff‑ready flows spanning critical design stages, including extraction, timing, physical verification, characterization, and power integrity.

This includes:

• Certified enablement for TSMC N3, N2 and A16^™ process technologies
• Ongoing collaboration for TSMC A14 PDKs to accelerate tapeout-quality results for AI/HPC applications
• Expanded support for TSMC 3DFabric^® advanced packaging solutions

In addition, the strategy incorporates silicon‑proven IP on TSMC N2P and certified flow coverage across TSMC's advanced nodes to address the PPA and time‑to‑silicon demands of increasingly complex, multi‑die AI and HPC architectures.

What Is Silicon‑Proven IP and Why It Matters at 3nm and 2nm

At advanced nodes, IP quality directly impacts design predictability and risk. Silicon‑proven IP provides confidence that power, performance, and reliability characteristics behave as expected in production silicon.

At 3nm and 2nm, where late‑stage changes can significantly impact schedules and cost, this validation becomes critical. Silicon‑proven IP helps reduce integration uncertainty, improves correlation between implementation and signoff, and supports smoother convergence toward tapeout.

For AI and HPC applications, where bandwidth, latency, and power efficiency are critical, silicon‑proven IP is a foundational requirement for predictable execution.

Cadence Design IP Supporting TSMC N3P and N2P

Cadence provides silicon-proven IP on TSMC's N3P and N2P nodes, enabling AI and HPC designs with the performance, efficiency, and integration confidence required at advanced nodes. This portfolio covers high-speed interfaces, memory subsystems, and chiplet connectivity, helping reduce design risk and accelerate time-to-tape-out for next-generation AI silicon.

Cadence IP is available to support design on TSMC's N3P and N2P process technologies, providing a comprehensive set of silicon-proven building blocks for advanced AI and HPC applications, including:

• High-speed interface IP such as PCIe^®6.0, 224G SerDes for UALink, and Ethernet for scalable data movement
• Advanced memory interfaces including HBM4E, LPDDR6/5X, DDR5 MRDIMM, and GDDR7 solutions optimized for performance and efficiency
• Chiplet and die-to-die connectivity IP such as UCIe 64Gbps for scalable system architectures

Built and validated on TSMC N3P and N2P technologies, these IP solutions help customers achieve predictable performance, faster integration, and improved time to silicon for complex, multi-die AI systems.

Benefits of Silicon‑Proven IP for AI and HPC Designs

For advanced‑node AI and HPC applications, silicon‑proven IP delivers critical advantages:

• Reduced integration risk, minimizing late‑stage design changes
• Improved correlation with certified flows, supporting smoother implementation‑to‑signoff transitions
• Predictable power and performance behavior, essential for aggressive targets
• Faster time to tapeout, driven by fewer iterations and greater confidence

These benefits become increasingly important as design complexity and cost continue to rise.

IP Proven in Real AI Designs: Positron's AI inference accelerator

Customers are successfully designing silicon on TSMC's 3nm and 2nm technologies, reflecting broad adoption across the AI and high-performance computing ecosystem. Customer adoption at advanced nodes reinforces the value of Cadence's design for AI strategy.

"Positron is building a purpose-designed AI inference accelerator chip optimized for transformer workloads that demand both leading-edge process technology and high-bandwidth connectivity," said Thomas Sohmers, CTO at Positron. "By licensing Cadence's PCIe 6.0 SerDes IP on the TSMC N3P process node, we are able to integrate silicon-proven, high-speed interfaces with confidence. The Cadence's collaboration with TSMC and its front-end tooling, including Genus Synthesis Solution and Innovus Implementation System, give us a dependable, mature, and highly predictable path to tapeout—exactly what we need as we bring our second-generation inference accelerator rapidly to market."

Looking Ahead: From IP and Flows to Advanced System Integration

With silicon‑proven IP and certified end‑to‑end flows establishing chip‑level predictability, AI innovation is increasingly extending beyond individual dies. As performance scaling continues, system‑level integration becomes critical for meeting advanced AI and HPC requirements.

In the next blog, we will explore how Cadence and TSMC are collaborating beyond the chip, enabling 3D‑IC and heterogeneous integration with signoff‑ready flows aligned to the TSMC 3DFabric^® advanced packaging solutions and TSMC-COUPE^™ reference flow to support the next phase of AI system scaling.

Learn more about how we are transforming chip design with our strategic foundry partners.