After the first year of China’s EDA development, where is the road ahead?
Latest update time：2022-03-23
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EDA (Electronic design automation) refers to the use of computer software to assist in the design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing of ultra-large-scale integrated circuit chips. As the complexity of chip design continues to increase, EDA has penetrated into every aspect of chip design and production, becoming an essential tool for chip design.
Benefiting from the technological iteration of advanced processes and the strong driving force of demand in many downstream fields, the global EDA market size has shown a steady upward trend. According to statistics from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI), the global EDA market size in 2020 was US$11.467 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.63%. Although the EDA industry accounts for a small proportion of the entire integrated circuit industry market size, it serves as a lever to leverage the entire integrated circuit industry, supporting and influencing the development of the hundreds of billions of dollars of integrated circuit industry.
In the domestic market, according to statistics from the Semiconductor Industry Association, the scale of the domestic EDA market was 9.31 billion yuan in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 27.7%. Since 2021, the domestic EDA industry has ushered in rapid development, and many EDA companies have launched IPOs.
In addition, start-ups have sprung up one after another, and primary market investment and financing events have been frequent after capital entered the market. According to incomplete statistics, there were more than 15 financing events in the EDA field in 2021 alone, and more than 12 companies were favored by capital.
Looking back at 2021, in addition to the rapid entry of capital and the vigorous growth of start-ups, the frequent implementation of EDA-related support policies is also pushing the EDA industry into the fast lane. 2021 can be said to have opened the first year of EDA in China.
However, the current global EDA market is dominated by international giants. According to data from TD Intelligence (TD), there are 23 companies in China's EDA field. However, the revenue of Chinese EDA companies accounts for less than 20% of the local EDA market, while Synopsys, Cadence and Siemens account for 80% of the domestic market.
Faced with opportunities and difficulties, domestic EDA urgently needs to achieve a breakthrough.
Domestic EDA "emerges suddenly"
In the short term, the situation in which international companies monopolize the EDA market will continue. Faced with the technological advantages and ecological barriers of industry giants, Dr. He Qing, chairman and general manager of Hangzhou Xingxin Technology Co., Ltd., talked about the breakthrough development path of domestic EDA. In the context of the advent of the post-Moore era, the slowdown of technological progress, and the fact that the path of technological evolution is no longer the only one, advanced processes, advanced packaging, artificial intelligence, cloud technology, etc. will become market breakthroughs for domestic EDA.
Compared with the oligopoly in the EDA industry, there is still a big gap in the layout of local EDA manufacturers in terms of product systematization. If domestic EDA companies want to survive and develop, they must insist on independent research and development of core technologies, combine market demand with technological changes, and provide EDA products that help customers solve problems and help the industry develop better. In the environment of almost monopoly abroad, we have seen many excellent EDA point tools emerge in China, and relying on the advantages of point tools, they are developing towards local solutions and full-process solutions. Xingxin is also on the development path of "from point to surface".
Xingxin is an EDA company with completely independent intellectual property rights and international competitiveness. It is committed to providing the industry with leading EDA signoff tool chains and solutions from traditional processes to advanced processes. It is understood that with the increasing design complexity of SoC integration, the space and scope that needs to be explored for signoff are growing exponentially, and the time required for verification is also getting longer and longer. The goal of the signoff tool is to complete increasingly complex simulation and analysis accurately, quickly, completely, and easily debugged, so that developers have the confidence to complete the signoff and deliver the design to the wafer fab for tapeout. Signoff tools have always been a key problem in the industry due to their high technology intensity, wide knowledge range, and the need to work closely with wafer fabs.
Currently, Xingxin's signoff tool chain includes GloryEX, a full-chip high-precision parameter extraction tool, GloryBolt, a power/EM/IR/reliability analysis solution, and PhyBolt, a multi-physical domain coupling analysis solution. It focuses on the Signoff field of chip physical design such as SoC, ASIC, Memory, Custom, AMS, etc., including power integrity, signal integrity, parasitic parameter extraction, power consumption, reliability, static timing analysis, substrate noise, on-chip multi-physical domain analysis, advanced process design optimization and other challenges, and deeply expands the unique capabilities of software algorithms and chip design. It is using breakthrough Signoff technology to fully help customers achieve the best power consumption, performance and area (PPA) goals.
Dr. He Qing introduced that in the face of challenges brought about by advanced processes in the post-Moore era, such as continued high growth in chip scale, three-dimensional complex structure modeling, process effects, special processes, and extreme requirements for power consumption and performance, Xingxin pioneered modeling and analysis methods for advanced process design, filling the gap in the domestic EDA field. Through underlying architecture and algorithm innovations, it reconstructs the advanced process modeling process and accelerates the convergence of chip design signoff.
Product + Ecosystem, a two-pronged approach
Looking back at the past 2021, Xingxin has achieved fruitful results, gathered many advantageous industry resources, the team continued to grow, customer recognition continued to increase, and accelerated the creation of a more comprehensive EDA tool chain from both product and ecological dimensions.
In terms of product research and development
, in June 2021, Xingxin's GloryEX product was successfully delivered to customers. As a high-performance full-chip parasitic parameter extraction solution with sign-off-level accuracy, the successful delivery and commercial application of GloryEX indicates that Xingxin's EDA products have leading competitiveness. This is also another key breakthrough for domestic EDA on the road of independent research and development.
Dr. He Qing said that GloryEX products embody the technical essence of the company's team, and deeply combine the development trends of current design and advanced technology in product research and development. Under the post-Moore's Law trend of technology increasingly developing towards three-dimensional stereoscopic development, Xingxin has seamlessly integrated 3D and 2.5D process definition and extraction. By embracing cutting-edge modeling indicators and technical directions, GloryEX's performance, accuracy, efficiency, etc. have reached the world's leading level.
In addition, the research and development of Xingxin's EM/IR/reliability analysis solution GloryBolt, multi-physical domain analysis solution PhyBolt and other new products have also made breakthrough progress, and the Signoff tool chain has begun to take shape.
At the ecological cooperation level
, GloryEX, Xingxin's high-precision parameter extraction solution based on FinFET advanced process, has successfully passed the high-standard certification of Samsung's advanced process and delivered high-quality products to leading chip design customers. This is the first certified sign-off-level precision EDA tool in China. Xingxin has also become the youngest EDA company among Samsung's global partners.
Xingxin has won the trust and confidence of upstream and downstream customers in the industry chain through hard-core products and built a good industrial ecosystem. Dr. He Qing said that we provide customers with innovative solutions and customized dynamic iterations to help customers solve chip verification problems better and faster. At the same time, according to the technology evolution path of the post-Moore era, Xingxin collaborates with leading chip design companies and wafer fabs at home and abroad to carry out in-depth cooperation in advanced process nodes and cutting-edge technology exploration, empowering customer innovation with independent innovative technology products and solutions, and promoting the development of the entire industry.
In addition to the progress in products and ecology, Xingxin has also won the favor of the capital market. Not long ago, Xingxin announced the completion of a round B financing of over 100 million yuan, led by SMIC Juyuan and participated in by Huaye Tiancheng Capital and other institutions. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the development and product iteration of the advanced process EDA tool chain, and continue to attract outstanding industry talents at home and abroad to join.
Where is the future of domestic EDA?
It can be seen that innovation and change are reshaping the new core competitiveness of the domestic EDA industry. However, it is also clear that there is no shortcut to breakthroughs in EDA core technology. It puts forward higher requirements for the knowledge background, R&D capabilities and experience accumulation of R&D personnel. It is necessary to continue to attract various talents, strengthen industry-university-research cooperation and maintain high R&D investment, adhere to technology accumulation for a long time, and guide by customer needs, so as to achieve new breakthroughs.
Why is there a shortage of EDA talents? On the one hand, the talent base of the EDA industry is small, the number of talents is insufficient, and talents who fully meet the requirements are rare; on the other hand, it is difficult to attract talents, and many EDA talents have switched to the Internet, blockchain, finance and other industries, resulting in serious talent loss; coupled with the frequent flow of talents caused by the hot capital, the human resource costs of enterprises continue to rise.
Faced with the current situation of talent in the industry, Xingxin has been continuously attracting talents from home and abroad through various channels; internally, it has established an internal training mechanism to consolidate the backbone forces. On this basis, Xingxin is also increasing the joint training of industry and education to dig deeper and cultivate EDA industry talents. Starting from 2021, Xingxin will fully support the holding of the "IC EDA Design Elite Challenge" by participating in the proposition of the competition, which is also Xingxin's attempt at "industry-education integration" in talent training.
The 2021 Xingxin competition lived up to expectations and won the highest honor "Qilin Cup"
In addition, Xingxin is actively developing projects in cooperation with universities and launching corporate mentor programs, combining the strength of colleges and universities and industry experts to gradually explore a new model for training EDA talents based on industry needs.
In the face of the current development status of local EDA companies, Dr. He Qing emphasized that technological innovation capabilities directly determine market competitiveness. Xingxin pays attention to the medium- and long-term development trends of the industry, embraces market and technological changes with an open attitude, focuses on its own technological advantages, insists on independent research and development, deepens products and technologies, and continuously creates leading EDA products and solutions. At the same time, it advocates that domestic EDA should establish an ecosystem with complementary advantages and collaborative innovation. He said: "For Xingxin, we are very happy to open up our scenarios and work closely with upstream and downstream partners in the industry chain, such as chip design companies, EDA companies, IP providers, wafer fabs, and packaging and testing plants, to unify various technical standards and data formats, break through the barriers between EDA tools, and better improve chip design and manufacturing efficiency, and build a more prosperous and stable integrated circuit industry ecosystem."
Xingxin is proving through its own practice that insisting on independent research and development of core technologies and strengthening collaborative cooperation between upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to promote ecological construction is a feasible path.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally written by the author. The content of the article is the author's personal opinion. Semiconductor Industry Observer reprints it only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Observer agrees or supports this point of view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Observer.
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