EDA Hungers For Growth

Brian Bailey, Semiconductor Engineering
February 27th, 2014

First of two parts: Lines are blurring between segments as upside of some markets taper down and new ones take off. Pain, efficiency and expertise define opportunities.

Look at the top line numbers provided by the EDA industry consortium (EDAC) and it appears as if the industry is doing well. In 2010, revenue was $5.285 billion. That number increased to $6.218 billion in 2011, and again to $6.529 billion in 2012, a 9.5% annual growth rate that would satisfy most investors. But the numbers do not tell the whole story. There is an interesting divide growing between the top three EDA companies and those from neighboring industries.

Top line year-over-year growth for Q3 2013 was 6.8%, a little lower than the previous EDAC numbers but quite explainable given that Q4 is usually the biggest quarter for EDA. Within that growth, the numbers are split into three primary areas—EDA revenue, semiconductor IP revenue and services. EDA Revenue grew at 4.2%, semiconductor IP (SIP) at 12.7%, and services at 10.4%.