Atrenta on outlook for EDA industry in 2014

BANGALORE, INDIA: It was a pleasure to meet up with Piyush Sancheti, VP of Marketing, Atrenta, recently. First, I asked him about the outlook for EDA in 2014.

Outlook for EDA

Piyush Sancheti said: "EDA does not look that attractive from growth point. However, you cannot do SoC designs without EDA. Right now, EDA's focus is on implementation. The re-use of IP has been doing the rounds for many years. Drivers for SoCs are mobile and Internet of Things. The design cycle for those markets are very short - about three months. EDA business is shifting to IP re-use. The focus is now toward design aggregation.

"We will have done roughly 66 percent of business - net new -- on existing customers. There is an industry shift toward doing more on the front end. EDA growth will come from IP-SoC involvement.

"Sub-20nm has challenges. ST says FT-SoI is the way to go. Complexity of process plays a big role, and the amount of chips you put in will also increase. In 14/16nm, we have an investment going on in 3D design. We are extending our 2D tool into 3D tool. We are also investing in the IP qualification. We have standardized a set of design rules in RTL. There are about 30 companies in the TSMC ecosystem.

"Our main focus is IP enablement. SoC acceptance is another key aspect. Our company focus is IP-enablement for SoCs. IP qualification ensures that it meets guidelines. Second, acceptance and making sure all IPs fit in the blocks. Third, integration. We already have this technology and it is driving the business."

3D design

What's Atrenta's take on 3D design? Sancheti replied: "The industry has been slow as 3D designs are not yet to a point of business success. Focus on monolithic 3D-ICs will be a paradigm shift for the semicon industry. For mainstream commercial design, 20nm is still mainstream, but 14/16nm does not look mainstream, as of now. Process node is not necessarily a driver of innovation. EDA as an industry will remain in single digit growth."

How will EDA move into the embedded software space?

Sancheti said: "We've looked into that market. But, the price point is significantly lower. Over time, it could be a strategic area for us. Over time, embedded software development and chip design will co-mingle."

ESL is where the future of EDA lies. Still true? He added that the future of EDA is going up. It has to head toward integration of embedded software and chip development. However, ESL is not the only viable option.

Atrenta has 220 people in India, about 10 people in Bangalore and 200 in Noida. Sushil Gupta runs the India operations. It has tie-ups with IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur as well. Atrenta sees lot of scope for work with the Indian start-ups.