category: What Were They Thinking

category: IoT, Security & Automotive

Iteration And Hallucination
By Brian Bailey - 26 Jun, 2025 - Comments: 0

Iteration loops have been a vital aspect of EDA flows for decades. Ever since gate delays and wire delays became comparable, it became necessary to find out if the result of a given logic synthesis run would yield acceptable timing. Over the years this problem became worse because one decision can affect many others. The ramifications of a decision may not have been obvious to an individual too... » read more

The DAC Valuation
By Brian Bailey - 29 May, 2025 - Comments: 2

The Design Automation Conference is approaching fast, and the evidence of a funding gap is in plain sight. An entire day of the technical conference has been dropped. This is disheartening to say the least, and in the long term it may be a very costly mistake. The problems started when the Internet bubble burst in 2000. Until then, DAC was growing to the point whereby few convention halls we... » read more

Tape-Out Failures Are The Tip Of The Iceberg
By Brian Bailey - 24 Apr, 2025 - Comments: 5

The headline numbers for the new Wilson Research/Siemens functional verification survey are out, and it shows a dramatic decline in the number of designs that are functionally correct and manufacturable. In the past year, that has dropped from 24% to just 14%. Along with that, there is a dramatic increase in the number of designs that are behind schedule, increasing from 67% to 75%. Over the ne... » read more

Times Are Changing For EDA
By Brian Bailey - 27 Mar, 2025 - Comments: 1

The EDA industry is about 50 years old, and I see the people responsible for its first generation setting their LinkedIn employment status to 'retired, at home' almost daily. I, for one, have a foot in that camp, but reporting/writing is different than having a full-time job because I can control the time commitment. We have seen many serial entrepreneurs who have created several successful com... » read more

The Price Of Fear
By Brian Bailey - 27 Feb, 2025 - Comments: 0

In my last blog, I talked about how pain is important when making predictions in the semiconductor industry. Pain is related to time to market and risk, and the flip side of risk is fear. Fear is one of the main drivers for a large number of EDA tools, such as those related to verification. The fear is taping out a chip, then waiting for what seems like an eternity to get the first chips bac... » read more

What’s Missing From Predictions
By Brian Bailey - 30 Jan, 2025 - Comments: 1

At this point everyone has made their predictions for the year, but there is one thing many people get wrong. Predictions are not about innovation. They are about pain and what is causing it. This industry is risk-averse, and everyone wants to continue doing what they are doing. But there comes a point when it's so painful to continue that something has to change. Having something that is... » read more

Design And Verification Issues In 2024
By Brian Bailey - 19 Dec, 2024 - Comments: 0

At the end of each year, I look back over the stories published and those that top the charts in terms of readership. I concentrate on those stories that are about the EDA tools and flows and the factors that are influencing them. These are good indicators of the problems designers and verification teams are facing today, and where they are looking for answers. This year's leading categories... » read more

Goal-Driven AI
By Brian Bailey - 26 Nov, 2024 - Comments: 2

For many, the long-term dream for AI within EDA is the ability to define a set of goals and tell the computer to go design it for them. A short while later, an optimized design will pop out. All of today's EDA tools will remain hidden, if they even exist at all. You would only be limited by your imagination. But we also know that AI is not to be trusted today, especially when millions of dol... » read more

Degrees Of Freedom For Innovation
By Brian Bailey - 11 Nov, 2024 - Comments: 0

I have been involved in several startups during my career, both true startups and startup ventures within a large EDA company. While they both demand innovative solutions, they have a very different goal and structures. When researching my story about innovation within EDA (yet to be published), I expected to receive a lot of large company bashing. While some pointed to sales strategies that... » read more

Revitalizing DAC
By Brian Bailey - 25 Apr, 2024 - Comments: 0

The 61st Design Automation Conference is just two months away and as I get closer to retirement, I know there will only be a few remaining for me. I entered the EDA industry in 1980, so have been involved with it for almost 45 years. Over that period, I have only missed a few. It is interesting how the conference has changed over the years. In the early days, DAC was only a conference, where... » read more

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