The Siemens EDA division recorded a growth rate higher than competitors in design automation (EDA) such as Synopsys and Cadence, with sales increasing by 19% last year. As it possesses unique solutions specialized in manufacturing semiconductors with complex structures in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), it is expected to expand its share in the EDA market.
Mike Ellow, Siemens EDA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said at a press briefing held at the Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 15th. EDA refers to computer software tools used for semiconductor design, simulation, verification, manufacturing, and testing. The global semiconductor EDA market is effectively monopolized by three corporations: Synopsys, Siemens, and Cadence. Last year, Siemens' sales amounted to 18.4 billion euros (about 30 trillion won).
Siemens announced plans to enhance performance by introducing generative AI into its EDA solutions, aiming to target the market. CEO Ellow noted, "With AI integrated into Siemens EDA solutions, productivity has increased by ten times and computational efficiency has improved by about three times," adding, "This will help customers develop semiconductors more efficiently based on optimized, customized solutions for the chips they design."
He explained that they are also providing services to support the rapidly growing application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) market. ASIC refers to semiconductors focused on performance for specific AI services. With the generative AI market blossoming, companies such as Amazon, Google, and Meta are developing their own services, leading to a surge in demand for ASICs designed accordingly.
CEO Ellow stated, "Nearly 70% of projects in the ASIC market were delayed from their original development schedule last year. This is because the design of ASICs is more complex than that of traditional semiconductors, and the difficulty of the process has also increased," and he added, "Siemens EDA will provide solutions to streamline designs and automate repetitive tasks through AI, supporting customers in shortening development time."
Siemens also announced collaboration with SK keyfoundry. SK keyfoundry stated that it will work with Siemens to release a process design kit (PDK) for automotive power semiconductors produced through a 130nm (nanometer, one billionth of a meter) process. Although the 130nm process has been regarded as a stabilized legacy process, the demand for higher performance in the automotive market has increased the complexity of semiconductor design. The plan is to combine SK keyfoundry's process technology optimization with Siemens' EDA solutions to maximize development efficiency from the design stage to the manufacturing process.
Siemens plans to enter the Internet of Things (IoT) market with this solution not only for automotive power semiconductor design. Kim Jun-hwan, the representative of Siemens EDA in Korea, mentioned, "This solution is expected to maximize development and production efficiency in the power semiconductor and IoT markets," and added, "We will continue to expand collaboration with foundry corporations through the latest EDA technologies in the future."
Jin Il-seop, Vice President of Future Technology (R&D) at SK keyfoundry, stated, "As this PDK focuses on improving design efficiency and stability compared to the existing ones, it will contribute to customers developing more competitive high-performance automotive semiconductor products."