2018 marked the first year of the Design Infrastructure Alley (DIA) at DAC.  It was the first time that DAC devoted floor-space to discussing the unique IT needs of the semiconductor industry.

Some of the big issues we are looking to address at DAC include:

Increased Focus on Data/IP Security

Semiconductor companies have traditionally had a very open, collegial way of working.  The emphasis was on making it easy for engineers to collaborate.  This was generally fine when companies created and owned virtually all of their own IP.  However, with the rise of third party IP (and the unique legal agreement for each set of IPs), it’s no longer acceptable to have “open access” to data.  This is a significant IT, engineering and business challenge that will require a great deal of work to correct without wreaking havoc with design schedules.

CAD flows which engineers have used for years will likely face challenges in a “locked down” environment, as the new rules will surely break an underlying data access assumption embedded deep within them.
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