What's PR got to do with it? 
Ed Lee
Ed Lee has been around EDA since before it was called EDA. He cut his teeth doing Public Relations with Valid, Cadence, Mentor, ECAD, VLSI, AMI and a host of others. And he has introduced more than three dozen EDA startups, ranging from the first commercial IP company to the latest statistical … More » On Synopsys buying VirageJune 12th, 2010 by Ed Lee
We asked three EDA figures to comment on how the Synopsys purchase of Virage would impact the EDA and IP industries. Here’s what they said. …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Mike Gianfagna …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Jim Hogan
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Synopsys has already been a formidable IP player and Cadence now entered it with its recent acquisition of Denali. There are still plenty of smaller IP players so we’ll see further consolidation playing out. The IP segment has been trying to define and position itself between EDA and semiconductors. We all wondered if IP would become an intrinsic part of the semiconductor industry, the EDA industry, or stand on its own. These days we clearly see that the IP pendulum has shifted toward EDA. The outlier is of course ARM which is a different beast, in some ways closer to semiconductors: i.e., look at how ARM competes with Intel. With a market cap equivalent to Synopsys and Cadence put together, ARM is simply too big for that. Coby Zelnik
– end – Tags: ARC, ARM, Atrenta, Coby Zelnik, EDA, EDA360, IP, Jim Hogan, Mike Gianfagna, Sagantec, Synopsys, Virage 2 Responses to “On Synopsys buying Virage” |
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This acquisition puts Synopsys squarely in the front of the pack as far as IP suppliers go. This trend could be quite significant. Successful IP reuse is a combination of the right EDA tools, best practices methodology and well-designed IP. The EDA vendor is a pretty good place for all that to come together. ARM remains the exception to this rule, and several other rules for that matter.
I don’t see how this doesn’t make Synopsys a competitor with ARM on physical IP and ARC processor. ARM should start feeling like it is getting surrounded by Synopsys.
With EDA trying to expand its scope and grow beyond its traditional boundaries (see EDA360), and with small and medium size IP vendors struggling to grow, basic economy forces are pushing this trend.
The writing on the wall has been that the IP sector will be rolled over by the leading foundry. The DFM issue gives foundry huge leverage over the physical implementation of IP. With insight directly from the fab. the foundry design team can do better in performence, yield, etc. than anyone else. For example, some day, they may release a set of design rules for public consumption and another set for internal silicon-verified IP design.
SNPS’s acquistion may delay this for a while. But unless competition in foundry space becomes real, it would not change the outcome.
eSilicon CEO Jack Harding discusses the Synopsys acquisition of Virage, and how the IP and EDA words are merging:
http://jack.esilicon.com