Will Donald Trump’s victory have an impact on the semiconductor industry? Should the industry expect changes to the CHIPS for America program and/or a different approach in the so-called “chip war” with China and related geopolitical issues? As the world waits for more insights, let’s briefly report some recent updates on both fronts. As for the CHIPS for America program, locations have been selected for the “Extreme Ultraviolet Accelerator”, which will operate within NY Creates’ NanoTech Complex in Albany, New York, supported by an investment of $825 million; and for the “Design and Collaboration Facility”, which will be based in Sunnyvale, California. As for geopolitical tensions, SpaceX has reportedly asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing off the island, because of geopolitical risks; and the British government has reportedly ordered China-registered Future Technology Devices International Holding Ltd to sell 80.2% of Scotland-based chip company FTDI over national security risks.
Siemens-Altair deal
A few days after the acquisition announcement, let’s take a closer look at the Siemens-Altair deal. The announcement press release from Siemens offers a glimpse into how the combined product offering will look like. Altair’s simulation portfolio, with strength in mechanical and electromagnetic capabilities, will enhance Siemens’s Digital Twin to deliver a full-suite, physics-based, simulation portfolio as part of Siemens Xcelerator (which is Siemens’s development platform to help companies become digital enterprises). Altair’s data science and AI-powered simulation capabilities will be leveraged to allow anyone, from engineers to generalists, to access simulation expertise. And Altair’s data science capabilities will boost Siemens’s expertise in product lifecycle and manufacturing processes. Clearly, from a technology point of view, the Siemens-Altair deal is not just about EDA, as both companies offer many software tools targeted at industries other than semiconductors. Altair, for example, also offers HPC & Cloud tools, AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) solutions, data analytics and more. However, taking EDA only into account, one could see this deal as a way to boost the former Mentor Graphics offering with the addition of Altair’s multiphysics simulation capabilities. From this point of view, the Siemens-Altair deal can be likened to the Synopsys acquisition of Ansys. Also, the Siemens-Altair deal confirms the EDA concentration trend, with the “big three” getting ever bigger.
