Synopsys' Silicon Architects Group Announces Industry-Leading Partners for Pioneering Structured ASIC Methodology

Synopsys, Inc.'s Silicon Architects Group, a leading innovator in integrated circuit design technology, has announced industry-leading partners for its pioneering Structured ASIC Methodology, clearly earmarking the company's unique application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture, called Cell-Based Array (CBA), as the emerging design technology of choice for highly-complex ASICs in applications such as multimedia, graphics, and telecommunications. This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Synopsys, solidifying its position as a top player in the high-level design automation (HLDA) software market.

Key Takeaways:

• The Silicon Architects Group has formed partnerships with leading Japanese semiconductor manufacturers Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp., and Toshiba Corp., which represent nearly US$2.75 billion in worldwide ASIC sales, accounting for a 44% share of the ASIC market.
• TriTech Microelectronics International, a strategic business unit of Singapore Technologies (ST), has licensed the patented design technology and plans to offer a complete ASIC product line based upon CBA.
• Hewlett Packard, Kawasaki, and Philips have previously licensed CBA, with Philips being instrumental in establishing the Silicon Architects Group in 1990 and licensing both CMOS and BiCMOS process technology.
• The CBA architecture is optimized for synthesis and combines the metal-only customization advantages of gate arrays with the logic and memory density and performance of cell-based design, resulting in area reductions of 30% to 60% over standard gate array libraries for Synopsys customers.
• Silicon Architects licenses their technology to ASIC vendors and charges consulting fees to develop libraries that work with CBA, receiving royalties from CBA licenses.
• The company offers an extensive toolset, including the patented CBA ASIC architecture, libraries, and datapath and memory compilers.