AI Studio Improves SoC Designer Productivity By 10X

The AI tool helps with SoC design checks by handling logic verification, automating ECOs, and checking low-power designs.

Cadence has introduced Conformal AI Studio to address the impact of growing SoC design complexity in formal equivalence checking. This suite includes logic equivalence checking (LEC), automated functional engineering change orders (ECOs), and low-power static signoff tools.

With AI and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities, Conformal AI Studio improves productivity through core engine speedups, a distributed low-power engine for full-chip power signoff, new algorithm innovations, and AI-enabled flows for LEC and ECO processes.

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Its ML-driven abort resolution helps solve LEC challenges, delivering up to 10X higher designer productivity, 10X smaller and faster ECOs, and improved power, performance, and area (PPA) by integrating implementation tool optimizations.

Conformal AI Studio includes three products:

• Conformal AI Equivalence – Performs distributed Boolean logical equivalence checking with AI dashboards and ML-driven proof engines.
• Conformal AI ECO – Automates pre- and post-mask functional ECO generation, delivering patches to maintain schedule predictability.
• Conformal AI Low Power – Verifies that low-power circuit structures align with the design’s power intent using distributed and hierarchical verification flows and two-design low-power comparisons.

Early adopters of Conformal AI Studio have reported benefits in SoCs for infrastructure AI, hyperscaler, and mobile applications.

“MediaTek creates industry-leading SoCs that cover a broad spectrum of applications, and our design teams demand EDA tool innovations that deliver PPA improvements faster, easier, and reliably, which is especially challenging when performing late-stage functional ECOs,” explained CW Ko, Deputy General Manager, Silicon Product Development at MediaTek. “We’ve seen very positive results from our trials of Cadence Conformal AI Studio, where we generated 83% smaller tactical ECO patches using the new Conformal AI ECO flows compared to our prior solution, and in nearly half the runtime. MediaTek has also deployed Conformal AI Low Power’s fast power-state-table analysis enhancement, consistently delivering over 100X improvement in runtime and memory. Lastly, we have begun to engage with Conformal AI Studio’s new ML-driven abort resolution solution for LEC.”