Semiconductor three growth engines

Unprecedented opportunities for the semiconductor industry, new demand for EDA tools
According to the latest forecast of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), global semiconductor sales will reach $611.2 billion in 2024, an increase of 15.8%.

According to market research firm TechInsights, global semiconductor sales are expected to reach $1 trillion in 2030, with artificial intelligence (AI) technology being an important driving force behind it. Recently, at the 2024 Siemens EDA Technology Summit, Mike Ellow, CEO of Siemens EDA Silicon Systems, also conveyed the same message to us, namely, "With the rise of artificial intelligence in the past few years, the whole artificial intelligence can make semiconductor design full of unlimited possibilities." Because you can use AI to give humans the ability to design chips."

In addition to artificial intelligence technology, another important driver is the global concern and practical investment in sustainable development, "semiconductors provide a solution for sustainable development." In the past year and a half, we have seen countries begin to spend real money on the development of semiconductor industries, and Japan is the most prominent one. Mike said.
Behind the development of the semiconductor industry is the new demand and challenge for EDA tool software. In Mike's introduction, the system design will be completely different. Taking the design of automobiles as an example, usually the design requirements of the whole vehicle will be disassembled into different units, such as engines, ECUs, silicon wafers, etc., which will be completed semi-independently by different teams and then integrated. Some compromises may have to be made during the integration process, but the final project can be completed. "Now we have to be software-defined and silicon enabled. Because the various design fields are interdependent and interact with each other, in this context of interconnection, our previous paradigm must change. With this interdependent relationship between design optimization, validation, execution, production, and final deployment, our approach is completely different. "
It can be understood that in the increasingly complex system design environment, if software and digital twin technology can be fully simulated and verified in the virtual environment at the beginning of product design, the efficiency of product development can be greatly improved and the risk and cost of product trial and error can be reduced. Not just in the automotive industry, but in every other industry, as Mike says, "software has become very important, which means that the entire ecosystem needs to evolve to deal with this level of complexity."
New challenges and how to achieve them
Of course, EDA companies represented by Siemens EDA also face many challenges, including:
1. People empowerment, how to use artificial intelligence to empower engineers, with fewer engineers to achieve unprecedented higher capacity design;
2. In terms of technology, how can more advanced process node technology be used to ensure that the design has more manufacturing awareness;
3. In terms of solutions, in the face of multiple physical fields, multiple systems, and high complexity, how to use appropriate tools, methodologies, and more complete digital twins to achieve these functions.
In the face of opportunities and challenges, each EDA company will have its own choice and response to strive for greater market space. We can see that Siemens EDA is different from other leading EDA companies in that, first of all, Siemens EDA does not do IP business, but focuses on EDA tools and products themselves. Mike highlighted the three main focuses of Siemens EDA:
Acceleration system design. Mike explained, "In the future, we need to be able to explore different architectures in the virtual world through digital twins, explore different silicon configurations, based on the basis of real software workload or simulation software workload, through different explorations can come to the final optimal silicon configuration, but also to promote further development and development of software." "
Heterogeneous and 3D IC/Chiplet. Future 3D IC design systems face enormous complexity, and the number of transistors may reach trillions. The impact of the entire 3D IC tool spans the entire EDA portfolio, starting with collaborative design, through validation, to newly added multi-physics fields, and finally to manufacturing. Creating a successful 3D IC involves everything from semiconductors to software, electronics, production, mechanics, bill of materials (BOM), all the way to product lifecycle management. "No company can do it as big and as comprehensive as Siemens." Mike said.
Advanced technology/manufacturing. "Advanced node manufacturing continues to grow rapidly, with 98% of the top 50 semiconductor manufacturers using Calibre, 7 of the top 10 using Tessent, and many companies using Solido for more diverse designs," Mike noted. All of these products come from Siemens EDA."
Here, Mike especially emphasized that behind Siemens EDA is the strong product system and ecological resources of Siemens, which is another important competitive advantage of Siemens EDA that is different from other EDA enterprises. "I'm talking about the fact that there is no other company like Siemens, not just Siemens EDA. When we are faced with so many complex requirements, not only EDA, but also Siemens industrialization software needs to be included. Because in today's complex system, it involves mechanical design, product life cycle management, bill of materials BOM management, multi-physical field analysis, thermal analysis, stress analysis, etc., in addition to EDA's product portfolio, we also need more other capabilities, and this capability is now looking at the world, including the future. There is no company that can compete with Siemens."