Credit: CFP

BEIJING, January 22 (TMTPOST)—"Chip EDA (Electronic Design Automation) technology holds paramount significance within the integrated circuit industry, particularly in the current situation. It stands out as one of the most critical and bottlenecked links in the ongoing development of China's integrated circuit industry," said Zhang Wei, a professor and the Dean of the School of Microelectronics at Fudan University, at a forum in Shanghai in last Thursday.

Although China has laid the groundwork for a nascent domestic EDA ecosystem, its resilience is still in its early stage, requiring a more open and collaborative approach. It is imperative for players across the whole industry chain make collective efforts within the EDA ecosystem, Zhang added.

In the past five years, the number of domestic Chip EDA companies has surged from 10 to over 120. The period from 2018 to 2020 witnessed an increase in the localization rate of EDA from 6.24% to 11.48%. Projections indicate a sustained expansion of the domestic EDA market, with an average annual compound growth rate surpassing 14% from 2021 to 2025, significantly outpacing the global market.

EDA, known as the 'Mother of Chips,' holds the key to achieving digital innovation. IC design engineers utilize EDA tools to design chip functions, convert the code into actual circuit designs, and verify the correctness of designs before mass production.

This process covers full links from circuit design, performance analysis, to IC layout design and manufacturing, shortening the development cycle and producing chips with higher performance, lower power consumption, and lower costs, known as PPA (Performance, Power, Area).

Considered the cornerstone of the $550 billion semiconductor industry, EDA is an essential component in chip design and occupying the highest upstream position in the semiconductor industry.

The worldwide market size of the chip EDA software industry reached approximately $13.437 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 1.8%. Projections suggest that the global EDA market is poised to reach $14.526 billion in 2023, according to data from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).

In the Chinese mainland market, the EDA software industry amounted to around 115.6 billion yuan (US$16 billion) in 2022, up 11.8% from the previous year. Forecasts indicate that the market size is expected to reach 130.5 billion yuan (US$18 billion) in 2023.

Despite the growth, over 85% of the Chinese market has been acquired by overseas EDA companies. The domestic EDA software's market share is less than 10%, representing a low self-sufficiency rate, making it one of the weakest links in the domestic chip industry chain.

To address this challenge, the government has implemented several supportive policies for EDA. In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed a focus on breakthroughs in industrial software, addressing the shortfalls in key basic software such as EDA.

Lin Junxiong, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of S2C, an industry leader in the field of digital EDA in China, highlighted the sustained growth of Chinese EDA companies over the last two decades.

Despite prevailing challenges in the chip industry, Lin remains optimistic about substantial market opportunities for the domestic EDA industry in the long term. He underscored advantages such as swift technological iterations, more prompt localization support, and the integration of new features, where domestic EDA surpasses its overseas counterparts.

During the event, S2C announced a collaboration with Tencent Cloud to create EDA cloud services. The partnership aims to build a high-performance, cost-effective chip design and simulation platform, reducing the development and time-to-market cycle for chips. Additionally, S2C is pushing ahead with a domestic EDA ecosystem initiative, with companies such as Innosilicon, Xpeedic, Kiwimoore, GWX Technology and Tencent Cloud joining the endeavor.

In recent years, EDA cloud services have gained popularity in the chip design field due to their flexible resource usage, cost reduction, faster design cycles, and simplified maintenance processes. EDA cloud services significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire design and development process.

Liu Daolong, Chief Architect in the Electronic Semiconductor Industry at Tencent Cloud, remarked that the partnership between Tencent Cloud and S2C not only provides a more adaptable approach to utilizing simulation resources but also addresses the fluctuating demand for computational power. The cloud-based version allows enterprises to dynamically adjust resource usage according to their specific needs, ensuring a more efficient balance between productivity and cost-effectiveness.

Zhang stressed the importance of talent cultivation and results transformation in the EDA industry. Fudan University has established a specialized EDA class, funded by the national government, dedicated to offering master's and doctoral programs in the EDA field. The goal is to inject cutting-edge talents into leading enterprises and jointly promote the development of the domestic EDA industry.

In the future, S2C plans to further enhance its existing EDA tools and business while advancing the implementation and exploration of emerging technologies like RISC-V, Chiplet, AI, and automotive electronics, said Lin.