Synopsys Ups The Ante In EDA With Next-Gen IC Validator

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) recently introduced its updated version of IC Validator — IC Validator NXT — to meet the physical verification engineers’ advanced and important productivity needs.

The most important capability of this physical verification solution is that design teams will be able to doubly reduce their physical signoff cycle for the advanced technology nodes.

The Synopsys IC Validator, which has been successfully delivering performance scalability and providing support to all mainstream and advanced process nodes for a decade, significantly lowers the time-to-results through near-linear scalability across numerous CPU cores. This solution has been adopted by industry leaders such as NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and IC provider Aquantia.

The IC Validator NXT runs on the Design Rule Checking technology just like the previous generation validator and enables five times faster run-time with equally fewer CPUs during SoC (system on chip) integration among other key offerings.

Dan Page, vice president, Design Group, Synopsys, said: "As designers adopt 7-nanometer and newer technology nodes, physical verification closure within schedule is becoming a major challenge, and tapeout delays can have a significant impact on our customers' product lifetime revenue and profitability."

Notably, IC Validator NXT has already been successfully deployed in the cloud by multiple customers to address their dynamic tapeout schedules.

The IC Validator is an important component of Synopsys' Fusion Design Platform, which is witnessing a strong adoption among clients and is driving the company’s top line. The platform contributed majorly to the 5% year-over-year increase in the company’s Semiconductor & System Design revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.

The IC Validator is a key product in Synopsys’ core electronic design automation (EDA) family. A solid progress in fusion technology and platform roll-out is driving EDA revenues.

However, the company faces tough competition from EDA vendors, such as Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) and Mentor Graphics Corporation, now belonging to Siemens AG (OTC:SIEGY) . These companies offer products, focusing more on distinct phases of the IC design process and providing a range of services to companies throughout the world to help optimize respective product development processes among other things. The players’ facilities could intensify rivalry, inducing soft prices and depleted profits for Synopsys.

Nonetheless, we believe that the technological expertise and a strong hold in the market will help sustain the company’s leadership and enable it to withstand stiff contest.

Moreover, per a recent Technavio report, the global EDA market size is expected to grow by more than $3.67 billion during the 2019-2023 time period. This projection bodes well for Synopsys, a leading player in this space.

Synopsys currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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