Charles Shi, Principal, Senior Analyst, Needham & Company, LLC., recently offered an upbeat assessment of the electronic design automation (EDA), silicon intellectual property (IP) and services industry, or what SEMI refers to as the electronic system design (ESD) ecosystem. I attended his presentation during the 2022 Design Automation Conference, collocated this year with SEMICON West and found it fascinating.

His presentation, titled EDA Powers Through Semiconductor Cycles, is well worth taking the time to read.

Smith: You are optimistic that EDA will be okay through a downcycle, according to your recent presentation. Even so, are there steps companies can or should take to be prepared?

Shi: I do think EDA will continue to grow through a semiconductor downturn. R&D is the last place for semiconductor companies to cut costs as they do not want to miss the upturn, which will eventually come, by pausing new chip R&D during a downturn. However, the range of possibilities of the upcoming downturn is wider than the previous downturns.
(more…)