downloadGroupGroupnoun_press release_995423_000000 copyGroupnoun_Feed_96767_000000Group 19noun_pictures_1817522_000000Member company iconResource item iconStore item iconGroup 19Group 19noun_Photo_2085192_000000 Copynoun_presentation_2096081_000000Group 19Group Copy 7noun_webinar_692730_000000Path
Skip to main content
April 17, 2023

Challenges and Opportunities in Intelligent System Design – Insights from Cadence

SEMI spoke with Rebecca Dobson, Corporate Vice President EMEA at Cadence Design Systems, about semiconductor industry growth drivers and why semiconductor design is crucial to meeting device scaling challenges today and beyond.

Dobson shared her views following her presentation in February at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium Europe (ISS Europe) in Vienna, Austria.

SEMI: Tell us about your background and what motivated you to enter the semiconductor industry.

Dobson: When I chose my degree, I knew science was very important and a strong area to go into. I was good at chemistry, so I chose something that gave me options. My undergrad degree was a Bachelor of Science with a focus on software development and an emphasis on international business. I really enjoyed that combination and the international business context held my focus. I started my career in marketing but quickly moved into sales, as that was where my strengths lie; understanding value and translating that to helping meet customer needs. 

LogoThis was at a small start-up, Sensaura, which had spun out of the Research Labs of EMI, mostly famous for music. In its early days, Sensaura had a scientific focus and many innovations such as stereo sound, radar and the CT scanner. The company developed 3D audio middleware and intellectual property for the PC and games console market. We worked with partners such as NVIDIA on the Xbox and Sony on the PlayStation. This was my first step into semiconductors. I went on to work for a number of start-ups, and big companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, NXP and TI before joining Arm in 2008. I had a fantastic career at Arm and was very lucky to grow with the company, eventually becoming VP of Sales for EMEA and India.

SEMI: Disruptive innovations in electronic systems design are essential for tackling next generation challenges and maintaining a competitive edge. What major design challenges is the industry currently facing?

Dobson: To power the technologies and products of the future, end-application system companies are increasingly designing the full stack of their solution. Some are even designing their own semiconductors – optimizing the end-to-end solution across chips, packages, printed circuit boards (PCBs), software and the entire system – to meet demanding market requirements. This new way of approaching design is driving a convergence of three trends in electronics design.

First, many applications require intelligent computation in their systems, optimized for the specific application and workload. Second, constrained by core architectural limitations, advancements in traditional CPU clock frequency have tapered off. Third, Moore’s Law has been driving exponential growth in semiconductor density, producing performance and power benefits when adopting new semiconductor process technologies. However, the rate of progress has slowed and, in addition, the cost of advanced-process nodes has grown substantially.

SEMI: How is Cadence preparing to overcome the challenges mentioned?

Dobson: The teams designing our products are under relentless pressure to produce results rapidly and flawlessly. Their challenge is to deliver new, differentiated products faster and more efficiently, despite the growing complexity of both silicon and software, and also considering new challenges such as 3D packaging, integrated intelligent sensors and 5G radios. Computational software tools, such as those developed by Cadence, address semiconductor and systems design challenges.

ImageOne recent trend in electronic design automation (EDA) is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to improve IC design for customers. The next era of silicon design excellence will leverage AI/ML technologies to capitalize on the vast amount of valuable data generated during each SoC design to deliver better performance, power, and area (PPA) while reducing engineering resources.

SEMI: How do innovations in electronic design impact the sustainability performance of the industry and the path to net zero?

Dobson: As stated by our CEO, Anirudh Devgan, in the 2022 Cadence Sustainability Report: “Our products enable the world’s leading electronics providers to optimize power, space, and energy needs for the most dynamic market applications, including consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, industrial, and healthcare.”

Cadence tools and technology enable our customers’ products to be sustainable by delivering the next generation of power and energy efficiency throughout the design flow. By leveraging Cadence technologies, our customers are able to predict power needs at various levels of abstraction early in the design process, and identify unnecessary activities to optimize designs for targeted applications.

Thermal profile analysis of data centers is another good example. Data centers constitute 1% of global power consumption. This amount is expected to double over the next few years as more applications rely on hyperscale compute from arrays of high-performance connected processors. Cadence’s acquisition of Future Facilities, a pioneer in the data center digital twin space, expands our computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermal analysis portfolio and extends it to data centers.

SEMI: What are the greatest opportunities for design companies in automotive, Industry 4.0 and 5G wireless communication?

Dobson: In the automotive sector, there are opportunities in the future of electrification, infotainment enabled by electronics and software, and automated driving systems (ADAS) to strengthen the level of automation. New technologies will reduce power device consumption and increase data analytics capabilities. Finally, the transition of electronics from tens of at-site Electronic Control Units (ECU) to a zonal architecture represents a great opportunity for advancements.

ImageIndustry 4.0 developments include continued factory automation and increasing deployments of sensors – for example for vision processing to improve productivity, detect quality defects and inventory management.

Last but not least, while the build-out of infrastructure and proliferation of devices is well underway, new 5G application areas could emerge in greenfield opportunities.

SEMI: What is the semiconductor renaissance, and what role does systems design play within it?

Dobson: It is a new era in system design where system companies are designing their own chips. This trend emerged in the last few years, and it is growing exponentially. It is a renaissance also in terms of electronic design and mechanical design intermingling, converging, and transforming into a new discipline.

Cadence’s core competency has always been in developing computational software for design excellence. Today, our latest innovations and acquisitions aim to analyze a system through multiple domains using pervasive intelligence (AI/ML technologies). Cadence computational technologies developed in the EDA sphere over the past few decades can be readily applied to system domains and further administer AI/ML technologies to those systems.

SEMI: The theme of ISS Europe was EU Chips Act: Realizing Europe’s Ambition by 2030. What's your take on that?

Dobson: The goals of the EU Chips Act are broad and ambitious, but necessary for Europe to remain a critical region in the industry. The three key priorities are:

  • Collaboration: Collaboration across the value chain, and within the ecosystem is key to build on core competencies, develop new standards and foster adoption of emerging solutions.
  • Upskilling and re-skilling: We have a wealth of knowledge and expertise in our maturing workforce. The industry needs to leverage this expertise and upskill or re-skill seasoned engineers to become proficient in the emerging AI/ML technologies that will be future chip industry growth drivers. But we also need to inspire a younger generation, particularly women, to study STEM in order to help expand the talent pipeline and fuel industry growth.
  • Support and invest in startups: A greater focus on investment and guidance from European experts would really benefit the region.

SEMI: What will it take for the European semiconductor industry to realize the anticipated growth and innovative breakthroughs outlined in the proposed EU Chips Act?

ImageEurope is home to some of the world’s most stable semiconductor companies and several major brands around the world rely upon them to bring their products to market. This ecosystem is the backbone of the European semiconductor market.

However, the appetite amongst venture capitalists and even some of the larger semiconductor companies to invest in start-ups or even create large funds in Europe is not equal to other parts of the world. Europe could expand its footprint in the global industry beyond the big players, and benefit from the rapid innovation that small companies bring to attract diverse talent to the industry.

I have been lucky to work in the Israeli semi market for 15 years and witness a thriving start-up environment, much of which stems from Intel’s early presence in the region. It is a positive, self-perpetuating market where entrepreneurs have repeated success stories. There are significant cultural differences between Israel and Europe, but this is a model that the European Chips Act could really encourage us to aspire to.

HSRebecca Dobson joined Cadence Design Systems in January 2020 as Corporate VP, leading the field engineering and sales teams across Europe and the Middle East. Rebecca worked in a variety of blue-chip businesses and startups; all of which were acquired due to their financial performance. Prior to joining Cadence, Rebecca worked at Inmarsat and Arm, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company.

Cassandra Melvin is Senior Director of Business Development and Operations at SEMI Europe.