2021 Semiconductor Leaders’ New Year Outlook: EDA/IP and Design Services

In 2020, we are at the entrance of the transformation to a fully digital society, and data has become an extremely important production factor and productivity engine. The path of industrial digital upgrading in each industry has opened a new development window for the chip industry, and the digitization and interconnection of the chip industry are also imminent. As a world-leading EDA and IP company, Synopsys has been focusing on the digitalization of the industry and proposed the concept of a new generation of EDA in 2020. It hopes to aggregate the value of data through the future-oriented new generation of EDA to support the digitalization and Internet transformation of the chip industry:

Launched the SLM platform to collect and analyze data from the entire chip life cycle, digitize terminal application requirements, applications, and experiences, and support chip developers in defining chips;

Launched DSO.ai, which uses AI and cloud technologies to enhance EDA performance and support chip innovation with more powerful computing power;

Synopsys integrates various advanced processes with DTCO (Design and Process Co-Optimization) methodology, unifies data structures with 3DIC Compiler, and builds a platform for data sharing and symbiosis.

Through these efforts, we have been able to upgrade EDA technology into a data platform for chip industry interconnection and ecology, allowing data to flow and interconnect across the entire industry chain, and better serve more scientific and technological support for the digital society .

2020 is an extraordinary year. Under the dual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the global trade environment, the development of the electronic information and semiconductor industries has been greatly affected. The development of some areas such as large-scale infrastructure and smart cities has slowed down, while technology in the consumer field has become more important. In an unstable trade environment, owning semiconductor intellectual property (IP) has become an important advantage. As the only non-US company with GPU IP, Imagination can carry out closer innovation cooperation with Chinese manufacturers.

In 2021, the pandemic will not end soon, which will bring new pressure on electronic product manufacturers to continue to add more value to people's lives. Everyone in the semiconductor industry can be a driver of innovative technology, whether it is AI, IoT, automobiles, desktop GPU processors or data centers.

As a leading global semiconductor IP manufacturer, Imagination will continue to strengthen technology and product innovation, enhance ecosystem construction and provide more extensive support and services to more customers and partners globally in 2021. Through its own graphics processing and AI acceleration innovative products - IMG B series multi-core GPUs and IMG Series4 multi-core neural network accelerators (NNA), it will help them create more advanced products in mobile phones, automobiles, Internet of Things, cloud computing, security, consumption, industry and other fields.

2020 was a very unusual year, but the semiconductor industry successfully overcame unprecedented supply chain challenges and met the needs of a variety of applications such as edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

The new domestic infrastructure will greatly accelerate the rapid growth of data and prompt more data to be processed at the edge. This will inevitably drive the demand for high-bandwidth memory. At the same time, the access and transmission of massive data will raise the industry's consideration and attention to data security to a new dimension.

The Chinese market plays an important role in Rambus' global business. Rambus will be committed to continuing to innovate, develop and invest in China. In 2021, we will continue to uphold the concept of "making data faster and safer", combine the localization needs of the Chinese market, ensure that our products meet the customer's technology roadmap, and continuously promote China's technological innovation and application. At the same time, we will also actively work with Chinese cloud vendors, storage vendors and server vendors to actively contribute to the construction of China's memory ecosystem.

The international situation and the post-epidemic era have forced the acceleration of the trend of domestic substitution. Local IP companies have become an important link in the stability of the industrial chain. Under the background of new infrastructure, it is urgent to accelerate the development of the domestic IP industry and meet the needs of the domestic integrated circuit design industry.

With the wave of intelligence and Internet of Things brought by 5G, the IP industry will usher in new opportunities and growth. We also look forward to the country giving priority to local core IPs, formulating industry standards as soon as possible, and promoting high-quality development of the industry.

Under the new market demand, SoC products are flexible in form and process selection is diverse. In addition, Fab's diversified IP cooperation strategy will deploy more types of IP on various process platforms. As a leader in domestic low-power IP, Ruichengxinwei will compete with international giants and lead the way. At present, the markets such as 5G, automotive electronics, Internet of Things, and medical are booming. Ruichengxinwei will continue to deepen its niche areas and continuously enhance our industry advantages.

With the rise of AIoT and 5G technologies and applications, the world has entered the era of intelligent interconnection. Massive amounts of data and information are acquired, transmitted, and processed. Changes in market demand and product iterations are faster than ever before. Faced with this rapidly changing era, the streamlined, scalable, free, and open RISC-V instruction set has demonstrated its powerful advantages.

Saifang Technology has mastered the core technology of RISC-V and has strong R&D capabilities, which enables us to develop the world's first RISC-V-based artificial intelligence processing platform - Jinghong 7100, the world's most powerful RISC-V processor core - Tianshu series and the world's first RISC-V AI single-board computer - Xingguang series in a relatively short period of time. This is of great significance to the industry, indicating that RISC-V-based platforms, cores, software and hardware have expanded to high-end application fields, and also indicates that the RISC-V ecosystem is becoming more and more mature and complete.

In 2021, Saifang Technology will continue to increase R&D investment in RISC-V processor IP, focus on product innovation, upgrading and iteration, and form low-, medium- and high-end product series. The application scenarios of high-performance computing will be the focus of our future development. We will launch more and higher-performance processor products and continue to provide customers with high-quality products and services. In addition, we will continue to promote the development of the domestic RISC-V ecosystem and continue to work closely with members of the RISC-V International Association to jointly promote the formulation of RISC-V international standards.

2020 was an extraordinary year. China's semiconductor industry has gone against the tide and flourished under the global epidemic, making remarkable progress. EDA tools and chip IP cores, as the cornerstone of the development of the semiconductor chip industry, have always attracted much attention.

As the design enters the 7nm and 5nm FinFET process nodes, the process complexity continues to increase, with completely different device structures and physical models. On the other hand, process variations also bring huge challenges to chip design, which in turn affects the performance and reliability of integrated circuits. Silvaco is an EDA and IP company with nearly 40 years of history. Since its inception, it has been deeply engaged in process and device simulation, device modeling, circuit design and simulation, and has constructed a DTCO solution for collaborative optimization from Technology to Design. In the new year, Silvaco will rely on its persistence in original technology and advanced research and development for local needs to explore solutions to core technical bottlenecks and key issues in the DTCO process.

In the field of IP, Silvaco has achieved remarkable results in recent years through mergers and acquisitions and independent research, especially in providing customers with rich IP products and services in the fields of automotive bus, high-speed interface, memory, standard cell library, etc.

Silvaco brings cutting-edge technology to China and helps the development of China's semiconductor industry. On this technological road that constantly drives human society forward, Silvaco will work hand in hand with all friends to create a better tomorrow! Finally, on behalf of all Silvaco China employees, I would like to wish all friends in the industry "business is as prosperous as spring, and wealth is as long as running water" in the new year!

2020 is a year of rapid development for RISC-V. Whether at home or abroad, more and more companies are entering this market. From embedded to the entire computing field, we have seen the growth momentum of RISC-V cores, SoCs, development boards, software and tools in the market. With the large-scale implementation of the RISC-V ecosystem in the local area, Xinlai Technology has completed the puzzle of AIoT full-series processor IP products, covering various application scenarios from low power consumption to high performance; and started the construction of a full-stack SoC IP platform based on the RISC-V processor core, which can greatly shorten the design cycle of RISC-V-based projects. In 2021, we will continue to deepen the domestic market, provide local customers with more complete domestically produced, self-controlled RISC-V products and solutions, grow together with the industry, and assist customers in the fields of automobiles, industrial control, communications, smart homes, blockchain, aerospace, energy, finance, artificial intelligence, etc. to output more products based on Xinlai's RISC-V core.

IP is the core area of ​​the chip design industry chain. Like EDA and lithography machines, it is the core hard technology of high-tech strategy.

The booming development of China's terminal application market has driven the rapid development of the integrated circuit market, resulting in a surge in demand for high-quality IP, and IP companies have a broad space for development. However, most of the market is currently monopolized by foreign companies, and China urgently needs to accelerate the innovation of domestic IP.

It is imperative for IP entrepreneurs to quickly provide mature and stable IP products and effectively support local chip companies to accelerate their innovation. Xinyaohui has gathered a group of top international talents with dreams, focusing on advanced semiconductor IP research and development and services to respond to China's rapidly developing chip and application needs, fully empower chip design, and drive the transformation and development of the digital society.

Xin Yaohui will continue to independently develop advanced process chip IP products, quickly empower chip design companies with the technology and experience accumulated by the team over the years, and better serve various important areas of the digital society.

In the new year, the industry first needs to digest the iteration cycle and supply order that were disrupted by various sudden variables such as the epidemic in the past year. With the full deployment of industries such as 5G, new energy vehicles, and smart Internet of Things, the official launch of digital infrastructure projects in various countries, and the digital upgrade of traditional industries and the acceleration of cloud services in the post-epidemic era, integrated circuits will usher in a new round of rapid development cycle. China's "dual circulation" policy will also greatly promote the production and sales of domestic integrated circuits.

In the past year, the proportion of Internet companies and cloud service providers in VeriSilicon's customer base has increased significantly, and these customers have more prominent demands for differentiation and innovation. In order to quickly respond to market changes, VeriSilicon has given full play to its unique SiPaaS business model advantages and has begun to expand its chip customization service content from hardware to software, and provide platform solutions with application software, such as video data center transcoding acceleration overall solution, true wireless stereo Bluetooth headset TWS overall solution, etc.; in terms of IP licensing, it has also expanded from the previous single IP licensing to platform licensing for specific applications, and began to provide Chiplet customization services. In addition to expanding the scope and content of services, VeriSilicon will continue to invest heavily in the research and development of new technologies, and will make breakthrough progress in innovative ultimate memory/cache technology (FLC), Chiplet, processor IP upgrades, etc.

After years of development, the layout of China's integrated circuit industry has been basically completed. my country has gradually established the foundation for independent innovation of core IP, and innovative IP products in the fields of Internet of Things and so on are emerging in an endless stream. In 2020, the full range of RF IP products of Xuanjixingyuan has blossomed in the fields of Internet of Things and satellite navigation; in the future, it is necessary to further enrich the RFIP product line and apply innovative products to more key core fields.

my country's integrated circuit industry will surely develop rapidly in the future. We need to unswervingly follow the path of independent innovation, prioritize the layout of core IP, and insist on independent, controllable, safe and reliable development.

In 2021, based on years of technological accumulation, Xuanjixingyuan will continue to innovate to respond to market opportunities and customer needs and inject "core" power into China's integrated circuit industry!