The Business of EDA:EDA Tool Development Sources

EDA Tool Development Sources

Nora:

So who develops EDA tools?

Frank:

Some tools start as a university student's Master's or PhD thesis. Many of the ideas come from the professor, but the students do most of the work. A few semesters of thesis work is enough to prove the feasibility (or not) of an idea. It may take contributions by several students over a few years. However, the actual university software code is rarely ready for production use.

Later, the graduate or others may develop the software into a production tool. (A production tool is well-documented, exhaustively tested, user-friendly, stable, and benchmarked against other tools.)

Small EDA startup companies develop some tools. These companies may be a spin-off from a university or from a large EDA company. They may come from the internal EDA development group of a system or semiconductor company. Other sources of EDA tools include consultants, design services companies, and government laboratories.

Large EDA companies acquire EDA tools through internal development or as extensions of existing company EDA products. They also get tools from universities or by merger with or acquisition of another EDA company.

Many small EDA companies develop specialty tools for secondary IC problems with modest initial markets. As ICs shrink, the secondary effects become vital. A larger EDA company often then acquires the tool or the company.

Did You Know?

Many companies fund university research. It takes only a $20K–$30K contribution to a professor in most schools. That gives the company open access to learning about all the research going on. Most schools have industrial liaison programs with periodic presentations about their research projects.

EDA research support also comes from government sources. In the U.S., these include the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST).

In-house/Out-source EDA Tool Development

Nora:

Why don't our customers develop their own tools?

Frank:

Some do. They may develop the tools for internal use and then find there is outside interest. They can sell or lease the tool. Alternatively, they may spin off a new company to exploit the market (and get royalties or stock). Sometimes the EDA team may leave and form a company to productize the tool.

However, internal EDA development groups have a lot to do. They support existing tools, test tool upgrades, solve bug problems, and service many groups. As usual with service groups serving multiple masters, they have to prioritize their time. So there is little time left for actual new tool development. In addition, small companies have a more difficult time supporting an EDA group.

So many user companies outsource their EDA development to independent third-party companies, such as Sandbox. The third-party vendors try to amortize the tool support and service cost over many customers.

At first glance, those companies specializing in EDA should be able to do it better. They get input from many sources and can spread the cost over multiple users. However, EDA vendors have the same priority problem as the users' internal EDA groups.

Many users use EDA vendors to reduce the size of their internal EDA support staff. For others, the vendor response is too slow. For critical projects, management can focus internal resources but cannot control the vendor priorities. Some companies (computer makers in particular) need specialized EDA tools not available from EDA vendors.

So a few large companies (e.g., Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, Motorola, National Semiconductor, NEC, and Texas Instruments) still have internal EDA development efforts.

Nora:

Okay, I see there are many EDA tool sources. I gather there are different kinds of ICs. Do they all use the same tools?

Frank:

Not all. Although many tools are common, different IC architectures require different suites of tools. Let me explain the different architectures briefly, since that is another view of the EDA business.

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