December 13, 2018, EDA in the cloud was a matter of a considerable debate at DAC this year. This encouraged several EDA vendors to seriously consider an extension of their offering into the cloud. Despite the fact, the majority of IC designers would still opt for old good desktop applications being reluctant to give a risky try or just being a hostage of a design bubble offered by a foundry or a client. The cloud security has all the chances to be questioned by commercial EDA users until it becomes a matter of being competitive in a niche where the majority of your rivals are offering lower costs for their services since they already use cloud-based EDA tools. How many reasons are there to wait for your competitors start using more up-to-date and cost-effective approach? As the result you find yourself lagging behind and you will have to make up the time wasted in a position where you no longer look for innovation but survival.
Some big EDA vendors claim in the same breath that the cloud is the future of a chip design environment, although one expects them to bring cheaper design tools to the market. Now that it’s in a cloud, why not make it more pay-as-you-go-based? Highly unlikely these big folks are looking to cut off tons of revenue on annual licenses, otherwise things are going too bad for them and thus they would just rise up from the ashes.
The question then is: who would therefore pioneer cost-effective online EDA both on a vendor and chip design development side? The answer is quite simple: startups and small businesses. It looks fair enough if growing and ambitious design automation software startups target at chip designers who are preparing for the first tape-out. That being said, one is tempted to get Lamborghini to learn how to drive in real life after steering its crippled version in a driving school. A question is now addressed to a driving school: why don’t just get more VW Golfs for not only educational purposes but also for enabling graduated IC designers to at least be aware of alternatives, that they can use peers’ EDA products in their young companies where every single penny counts.
What if there are millions of such tools? Fortunately there are only few of them and you do not need to look for a needle in a haystack to find a worthy option.
IC design startups couldn’t care less about intense cloud computing capacities since their development pipeline is not packed up with numerous custom designs. But again, it all really comes down to a price: many tools used in a design development are invoked once in a blue moon, though inevitably at least once prior to a tape-out. Judge for yourself, whether these tools deserve to be paid annually when not used perpetually.
Say if you have doubts about existence of a pay-as-you-go cloud physical layout verification tool certified by tier 1 European silicon foundries for most common 180nm nodes, then take a look at POLYTEDA CLOUD. There is indeed no one offering certified DRC for custom chips except for the big three and POLYTEDA CLOUD whereas it is an EDA startup for IC design startups and SMBs.
Concerns:
They are in a cloud, not secure - You are a small company or a startup. It is not safe even when you sleep. Because at that very moment of time someone is creating exactly the same thing as you work on, but it will be cheaper on the market.
How could I tape out with startup tools? - Do not forget you are a startup too. Keep calm and check their background, ask for references and evaluate as it is almost always free of charge. Moreover, if you find them listed as a foundry-certified EDA partner, it is not for nothing.
I would prefer to stick to an integral flow - You always have a chance to do this if you apply for a leading semiconductor organization which prepared a secure desktop design flow bubble for you. If you are a startup, you compile, experiment and create your own cost efficient flow OR grab some obsolete tool license which is not supported, fixed and developed for decades.
Why are cloud EDA startups the best fit for small design houses?
They are cheap - You can save on your EDA tools dramatically
And hungry for clients - They will go an extra mile when supporting you
They are there - Be willing to look at anyone else in a foundry’s partner EDA list, there is always a good chance to find great alternatives. If a vendor you have never heard about is certified by a tier 1 foundry, it definitely deserves your attention.
And likely offering something unique - They may address the same issue with their solution, though there should be something they stand out with, some unique advantageous capability: a killing feature.
It is an expertise sharing - They might know something you do not know and mention something you missed. They will provide insights for free.
For example, when it comes to DRC/LVS, this is probably the first thing popping up in mind what should be cloud-based. It is annoying to wait for a design to be verified for several hours as if you are in the 1990s. Just google “cloud physical verification” and see what’s in there.
Text by Nick Tikhomirov, SaaS Account Executive