It`s hard not to be enthusiastic about CEMWorks (pronounced C-E-M Works) of Winnipeg, Canada, one of the ESD Alliance’s new member companies. I recently spoke with Jonaton (Jon) Aronsson, its founder and CEO, and Cielo Gerrie, vice president of business development, who offer a great vision of how advanced electromagnetic simulation will play an important role in the not-too-distant future. As we talk, it’s obvious it is needed now as well to support EDA and complex system design challenges.

Jon Aronsson, CEMWorks Founder and CEO

First, a look at CEMWorks. The nine-year-old company develops and supplies innovative electromagnetic simulation tools. Its fast, accurate and customizable electromagnetic simulation solutions are required to deliver more compact, robust, efficient and cost-effective products and applications. Sure, our industry supports and understands microwave and millimeter wave technologies. As we move into Smart Cities, ADAs (advanced driver assistance systems), 5G and other high-frequency, highly connected applications including wireless communications subsystems, the need for a new generation of electromagnetic simulation tools is acute.

Cielo Gerrie, CEMWorks Vice President of Business Development

Back to my talk with Jon and Cielo. In their view, EDA solutions need to face the future as well. Our community of chip designers is moving rapidly from being chip centric to system centric. Yes, chips are being designed as components in a sub-system that may include leading-edge packaging, interconnects and often antennas. CEMWorks intends to provide tools for accurately modeling and predicting the performance of these complex subsystems to ensure they can be manufactured. This is further evidence of the perspective held by the ESD Alliance and SEMI as we work to bring design and manufacturing closer together.

According to Jon, accurate modeling is much more than just design rules, a standard product from the EDA playbook, with more algorithms based on physics and a huge scientific project, he admits. That’s why, after 10 years, CEMWorks still considers itself to be a startup. Yes, it can take 10 years to fully develop the technology and CEMWorks now is seeing interesting results to problems other companies can’t solve.

(more…)

Fresh off the success of our webcast earlier this month, we are set to bring you the virtual 2020 CEO Outlook Wednesday, June 17, beginning at 11 a.m. P.D.T.

It will be moderated by Ed Sperling, Semiconductor Engineering’s editor-in-chief, and features six of our Governing Council members. This year’s CEO Outlook participants are Arm’s Simon Segars, Joe Sawicki of Mentor, a Siemens Business, OneSpin’s Raik Brinkmann, John Kibarian from PDF Solutions, Prakash Narain of Real Intent and Silvaco’s Babak Taheri.

The format will be similar to previous CEO discussions, though the number of CEOs is larger than normal, and it will be virtual. Of course, questions from attendees will be encouraged and can be submitted throughout the discussion. They will be collated and asked by Ed Sperling or me during the Q&A session at the end of the webcast.

Ed Sperling

Please plan to join us Wednesday, June 17, at 10:30 a.m. P.D.T. and be sure to set aside 90 minutes so you don’t miss any of the conversation or attendee questions. The CEOs will have plenty to talk about and the range of topics should appeal to everyone in the electronic system and semiconductor design community.

Registration is free of charge. To register, go to: https://bit.ly/3cLUawd

A reminder that the recording of the webcast from early May with Jim Hogan, managing partner of Vista Ventures, and Simon Butler of Methodics is available for viewing at no charge. If you haven’t had a chance to look at the webcast, I highly recommend it. As Mike Gianfagna reported on Semiwiki: “I am happy to say that the magic of a Jim Hogan fireside chat does translate to a virtual setting quite well.  The event was full of good information about the ESD Alliance, the story of Methodics and a brief but compelling history of the chip design universe that got us here.” It can be found on the ESD Alliance website.

(more…)

Our community tuned in collectively for the first-ever ESD Alliance-hosted webcast to learn about the Methodics success story as told by its CEO Simon Butler and master storyteller and board member Jim Hogan.

It was a feel-good discussion from the start all the way through a Q&A session as Jim led Simon across his background to the start of a bootstrapped Methodics into a profitable emerging company today. They proffered a view of how a small company the size of Methodics could create a new market segment called IP Lifecycle Management (IPLM) for chip designers. An eager-to-learn more audience asked a variety of questions about bootstrapping, managing the business to ensure success and the situation today.

Yes, the webcast was recorded. If you missed the discussion, the link to the recording is posted and available for viewing.

Meanwhile, we are planning more webcasts and welcome your suggestions. Please let me know if you have an idea. I can be reached at bsmith@semi.org.

(more…)

Take a break from “must-see TV” or refreshing your favorite news outlets for the latest on the pandemic for a feel-good success story about bootstrapping a startup into profitability compliments of Jim Hogan and Simon Butler, Founder and CEO of Methodics.

Join us online free of charge for this first-ever ESD Alliance-hosted webcast Friday, May 1, from 11 a.m. until noon PDT. Yes, it replaces the in-person event we scheduled for early April at the SEMI headquarters in Milpitas, Calif. The content remains the same and we’ll have plenty of time for your questions at the end.

Anyone who’s been to an event led by Jim Hogan knows you will be highly entertained and fascinated by the way he steers the discussion. During this webcast, you will learn about Methodics’ remarkable trajectory and success while creating a new market segment called IP Lifecycle Management –– aka IPLM –– for chip designers. Jim and Simon Butler will depict Methodics’ ability to morph the Enterprise Software product lifecycle management (PLM) segment into a design-centric IPLM workspace.  Entrepreneurs will be particularly interested in Simon’s vision, the reasons why the San Francisco-based company pursued this application space and his valuable advice for startups. 

Expect Jim and Simon to describe how Methodics was able to expand the definition of PLM in the Enterprise Software segment into IPLM for a design-centric view of the semiconductor IP lifecycle. PLM, well-known and well-integrated within the mechanical design flow, they will explain, comes up short for the semiconductor market due to the “high velocity” of semiconductor designs as vendors struggled to deliver a solution to chip designers. Remarkably, Methodics paved PLM’s “last mile,” completing the “digital thread” from system design all the way to the semiconductor level and became profitable along the way.

Help us inaugurate our first webcast with the unrivaled Jim Hogan and his guest Simon Butler. I’ll mention again –– registration is free!

About Jim Hogan and Simon Butler

Jim Hogan, an experienced senior executive, has worked in the semiconductor design and manufacturing industry for more than 40 years, and serves as a board director for electronic design automation, intellectual property, semiconductor equipment, material science and IT companies.

(more…)

The news from our most recent Market Statistics Service (MSS) report was positive for those of us in the electronic system design ecosystem. In fact, total revenue reached $10.2 billion in 2019, an 8.3 percent increase over 2018. The MSS further reported total revenue across the categories in the design ecosystem increased by 2.2 percent in Q4 2019 to $2.63 billion, compared to $2.57 billion in Q4 2018, an increase of 2.2 percent. More information can be found in the news release and the MSS Newsletter.

Now in its third decade of quarterly reports, the MSS report continues to be a valuable resource to member companies and is part of our Market Information initiative. MSS data is widely used by companies who provide products and services in the global electronic system and semiconductor design ecosystem and others that follow and track our industry.

Each quarter, public and private EDA, semiconductor IP and services companies submit data in confidence to an independent auditing firm. The firm aggregates the data and reports it in detail by product categories and geographic regions. Every report includes tables with current year-to-date revenue along with the three previous years by quarter, allowing companies to review trends affecting their specific product segments.

The MSS report provides great value to both our member companies and organizations that follow, track and analyze performance and trends in the system design ecosystem. For our members, the MSS provides insight into trends in product areas and market segments, helping executive management determine product and marketing strategy, competitive advantages and potential growth areas. For those who follow our industry and are not direct suppliers of goods and services that enable design, it helps direct investment strategies. In some cases, it points to product or service offerings that provide added value to the design infrastructure.
(more…)

Please join me in welcoming CEMWorks, provider of next-generation virtual electromagnetic prototyping platforms, to the ESD Alliance member community. It joins Avery Design Systems, another new corporate member.

CEMWorks is developing innovative physics-based virtual prototyping tools that help businesses create tomorrow’s technologies and views the ESD Alliance as a bridge to connect with other electronic design companies through its educational and networking events. “It offers us a way to learn more about challenges and opportunities in our industry,” noted Jonatan (Jon) Aronsson, president of CEMWorks, in the news release. Jon founded CEMWorks in 2011 in response to the lack of comprehensive simulations tools for the electronics industry.

(more…)

We postponed the Jim Hogan and Methodics’ Simon Butler discussion about bootstrapping a startup into profitability April 3. We’ll let you know as soon as we reschedule.

Engage with the ESD Alliance at:

Website: www.esd-alliance.org

ESD Alliance Bridging the Frontier blog: http://bit.ly/2oJUVzl

Twitter: @ESDAlliance

LinkedIn

Facebook

If you’re attending DVCon U.S. next week, stop by our tabletop display in the lobby with detailed membership information, including our charter and the wide range of benefits, such as our Market Statistics Service (MSS), technical programs, ongoing initiatives and networking events. We will be available during the DVCon Expo and Reception Monday from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 3, and Wednesday, March 4, from 2:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. DVCon U.S., as always, will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Jose, Calif.

Avery Design Systems Community Membership

Now is a great time for your company to join the ESD Alliance, a SEMI Strategic Technology Community. Just ask anyone from Avery Design Systems (DVCon Booth #605), our newest community member. Already a member of SEMI, the global industry association representing the worldwide electronics product design and manufacturing chain, Avery wanted more involvement in the ESD Alliance because of our focus on the design community.

“Being part of SEMI’s broader mission and global reach is part of the ESD Alliance’s attraction to the design community,” as Chilai Huang, Avery’s president and CEO, said in the news release. “For an emerging company such as Avery, the Export and License Management and Anti-Piracy Committees offer a central resource for informed information to address a variety of vexing issues.” Chilai also noted the ability to receive the detailed Market Statistics Service (MSS) data as another resource to help Avery make engineering and business decisions.
(more…)

Who in our community doesn’t relish a success story? That’s why we welcome Jim Hogan and his guest Simon Butler of Methodics for a lively lunchtime success story about bootstrapping a startup into profitability Friday, April 3, from noon until 1:30 p.m.

Jim, Methodics’ board member, and its Founder and CEO Simon will steer their audience through the Methodics’ trajectory and success in creating a new market segment called IP Lifecycle Management –– IPLM, for short –– targeting chip designers. They will explore Simon’s vision and reasons why San Francisco-based Methodics pursued this application space.

As an audience member, you will learn how Methodics expanded the definition of product lifecycle management (PLM) in the Enterprise Software segment into IPLM for a design-centric view of the semiconductor IP lifecycle. PLM, well-known and well-integrated within the mechanical design flow, comes up short for the semiconductor market due to the “high velocity” of semiconductor designs, with vendors struggling to deliver a solution to chip designers. As they will explain, Methodics paved PLM’s “last mile,” allowing for the completion of the “digital thread” from system design all the way to the semiconductor level. And, became profitable along the way.

(more…)

The 2020 calendar for SEMI (the ESD Alliance’s parent organization) ostensibly started January 12 as the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) got underway in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Senior executives from throughout the global electronic product manufacturing and supply chain heard economists, technologists and financial analysts offer insights about the economy, technologies and business trends.

Of interest to the electronic system design ecosystem was the closing keynote by Simon Segars, CEO of Arm and chairman of the ESD Alliance’s Governing Council. Under the “A Look into the Future” umbrella, Simon imagined “A New Roaring ‘20s –– The Fifth Wave of Computing Driving Semiconductor Sector Innovation.” His talk, a bullish look at the future of technology, highlighted its use to solve global problems, such as climate change, health and weather prediction.

Simon’s reference to the 5th Wave implies new chip designs and architectures, including new packaging and integration architectures to support moving AI processing to the endpoint. He also pointed to the need for more software creation, another area that could be further automated.

During the 40-minute presentation, Simon cited several key technology drivers including smartphones that will remain a driver over the next decade with 3.5-billion users out of the 7.8-billion world’s population and 9.4-billion cellular connections.

Another example is IoT that combines physical and digital data. According to Arm’s predictions, one-trillion connected devices will be in use by 2035. In addition, 5G will play a role in connectivity and transporting data. One application will use real-time physical IoT data and digital data to predict flooding up to three weeks in advance in African Country Malawi.

Simon used AI as one more example of a key technology driver. AI tasks are distributed across cloud AI, edge AI and endpoint AI, or the sensor itself. AI, he observed, is moving to the endpoint, which means decisions can be made at the device (IoT) itself. Simon’s example is a waterpipe leak detector where the latest generation sensing device has built in AI to detect leaks at the sensor.

Few technology presentations today overlook the rapid changes and growth within the automotive segment. Simon described the modern family car with 10-million lines of compute code, while a high-end car has 100-million lines. In the future, a Level 5 autonomous vehicle that’s fully automated with no human driver involved will require one-billion lines of compute code.

Simon’s presentation offered good news across the electronic product manufacturing and supply chain and a positive outlook for the future of technology. He gave his audience plenty to think about and concluded his talk with predictions for the Fifth Wave of Computing –– IoT for gathering data, 5G for transporting data and AI for processing data.

Why not ensure your company is a member of the ESD Alliance and SEMI? The ESD Alliance is a Strategic Technology Community within SEMI. As a member, you can participate in all that the ESD Alliance offers and in the wide range of benefits offered by SEMI.

If your company is already a SEMI member, becoming a member of the ESD Alliance is as easy as submitting a short application. Your company won’t pay an extra fee to become a member.

Not a SEMI member yet? No problem, it’s easy to join and your company can apply at the same time to join the ESD Alliance. Again, no extra fee is associated with being a part of the ESD Alliance.

Contact me at bsmith@semi.org to learn more about the ESD Alliance and all our programs and initiatives.

Engage with the ESD Alliance at:

Website: www.esd-alliance.org

ESD Alliance Bridging the Frontier blog: http://bit.ly/2oJUVzl

Twitter: @ESDAlliance

LinkedIn

Facebook