IIT-M partners for courses to increase trained talent

CHENNAI: Magma Design Automation India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Magma Design Automation Inc., USA, provider of semiconductor design software, has announced its successful partnership with India Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, to increase talent trained and exposed to next-generation EDA (electronic design automation) tools.






According to the press release, the partnership, which began a year ago when Magma provided IIT-Madras with licenses of its next-generation EDA tools, has received overwhelming response with over 125 students enrolling for the CAD4VLSI course that incorporates Magma tools. IIT-Madras was the first institute to partner as part of Magma's "India IC Excellence" initiative to create an "IC design ecosystem" to address the manpower challenges faced by the Indian semiconductor industry.





Head of the electrical engineering department at IIT-Madras Professor S Srinivasan said, "Magma's next-generation EDA toolset, with its cutting-edge design philosophy and integrated design flow, addresses both the teaching and research aspects of our institute, leading us to successfully integrate the Magma IC software design flow into our VLSI curriculum."





Professor V Kamakoti of the computer science and engineering department at IIT Madras said, "By going beyond just providing licenses and actively supporting adoption and integration of the Magma design tools into our program, Magma India management and its University Support team have taken the hitherto routine academia-industry interaction to an altogether new level. This tight integration of the tools into the curriculum takes the students through a complete RTL to GDS-II design cycle on a multimillion-gate design and has resulted in the program being extremely successful. We intend to build on this momentum and explore an extension of this partnership."





MD of Magma Design Automation India Anand Anandkumar, said, "The significance of this partnership and the impact of its success on the local IC design industry can be understood considering that fewer than 2,000 students graduate in VLSI design across India annually. This engagement between IIT-Madras and Magma is a blueprint for how industry and academia in India need to collaborate to address skill gaps in IC design. We are glad to have played an active role in the success of the CAD4VLSI program at this world-class institution."