EDA (Electronic Design Automation), that is, electronic design automation, is a large-scale industrial tool that uses computer aids to complete the design, manufacture, packaging and testing of integrated circuit chips, covering all aspects of chip IC design, wiring, verification and simulation.

EDA tools consist of two parts: hardware and software. Software is the core of the tool, which is divided into simulation tools, design tools, and verification tools; hardware is the server and special tools used to accelerate the simulation and verification speed.

EDA is the most basic and upstream field, running through every link of the integrated circuit industry chain. Therefore, it is very important. If there is a problem with EDA, the integrated circuits, electronic information and digital economy in the downstream of the industry will be affected.


We all know that chip design is very complex and delicate, and EDA plays an important role in the chip design and manufacturing process.



Computer Aided Design (TCAD):

Use computer simulation technology to develop and optimize semiconductor devices and their processing techniques for designing and verifying semiconductor manufacturing processes to ensure that semiconductor products have the required performance and density.

Design for Manufacturing (DFM):

Verify that the design meets all requirements of the product manufacturing process (good manufacturability).

Silicon Lifecycle Management (SLM):

Once the chip is fabricated, monitor the performance of the device from fabrication to field deployment.

DEA market structure: three pillars

In the early days, EDA was only an automation tool for IC design. With the rapid development of the integrated circuit industry, EDA companies began to extend to other fields, and introduced OPC and other EDA manufacturing tools and manufacturability design tools (DFM). .

The Big Three of EDA: Synopsys (Synopsys, USA), Cadence (Kaideng Electronics, USA), Siemens EDA (Siemens, Germany)

After many mergers and acquisitions and industrial integration, the EDA industry has been highly concentrated. At present, the three giants have complete and full-process products with sufficient advantages. Their EDA products have covered all aspects of chip design. The market position of the three giants is difficult to achieve. shake.

The Big Three of EDA

From the perspective of EDA product line alone, Kaideng Electronics and Synopsys are on the same level. Synopsys' main areas are digital chip design, static timing verification and SIP provisioning; Kaideng Electronics focuses on analog, digital back-end and DDR4 IP; and Siemens EDA's main areas are back-end verification and testability design. From a strategic point of view, Synopsys strengthens the development of software-integrated products, and develops the product strength of its various product lines on an average through frequent mergers and acquisitions. Kaideng Electronics has a solid foundation of strength, and relatively few mergers and acquisitions can maintain stable growth in EDA revenue.

At present, the entire EDA market can be divided into three echelons:

The first echelon: The three giants Synopsys, Kaideng Electronics, and Siemens EDA are absolutely dominant, with businesses all over the world, occupying 77% of the global market share.

The second echelon: American ANSYS, Silvaco, Aldec, etc. are represented, and the domestic leader Huada Jiutian is also listed. It has full-process products in specific fields, and its technology is relatively advanced in local fields.

The third echelon: Represented by Altium, Concept Engineering Group (Concept Engineering), General Electronics, Down Stream Technologies, etc., the main layout point tools, the lack of EDA specific field full-process products.


Foreign EDA enterprises started early. After decades of development, they have accumulated certain technical experience, trained a large number of technical talents, and formed strong technical barriers and patent barriers. And many mergers and acquisitions have allowed EDA leaders to accelerate the accumulation of technology and patents.

The development of domestic EDA enterprises is relatively late. At present, they mainly focus on point tools, the tool chain is incomplete, and the process is less involved. At present, only Huada Jiutian has the ability to cover the whole process in analog circuits, while the three foreign giants cover the industry. all aspects of the chain. In addition, domestic EDA cannot meet the requirements of cutting-edge manufacturing process at present. Since EDA is in the most upstream position, EDA must be more advanced than the chip technology.


Synopsys is undoubtedly the largest EDA-related company in terms of revenue and business. According to Synopsys' financial report, its revenue in 2021 will be US$4.2 billion, of which R&D expenses will account for 36% (US$513 million). ; Kaideng Electronics' revenue in 2021 is 2.683 billion US dollars, and R&D expenses account for as high as 38% (1.134 billion US dollars). Siemens EDA's financial position is not public.

Among the current domestic EDA companies, Huada Jiutian's revenue in 2021 will be 579 million yuan, and Gelun Electronics' 2021 revenue will be 194 million yuan. It can be seen that there is a large gap between the revenue of domestic EDA companies and the leaders.

However, in terms of price-earnings ratio (TTM), Synopsys is 59.94, Kaideng Electronics is 67.68, Gelun Electronics is 584.39, and Huada Jiutian is 467.11. The capital market is optimistic about the prospects of domestic EDA.

In the 1980s - China's EDA technology resources were particularly scarce.

1986 - China mobilized more than 200 experts to jointly carry out domestic EDA research and development, and China's EDA technology slowly began to improve.

1993 - China's first domestic EDA panda system finally came out. It not only filled the gap in China's EDA industry, but also allowed China to break the foreign blockade and enter the international market smoothly.

1994-2008 - China's EDA encountered another turning point.

Cadence took the lead in entering the Chinese market as early as 1992, followed by Synopsys and Mentor Graphics (Siemens EDA). The three giants quickly occupied most of the EDA market in China. The domestic EDA Panda system was like a flash in the pan. At that time, only a few EDA companies in China were established. , it will take a long time to develop.

Like advanced manufacturing processes, EDA is a highly monopolized industry, and it is not possible to break through the monopoly overnight. At present, most domestic chip design companies are still using imported EDA industrial software to design chips. Once the supply of EDA software in the United States is cut off, domestic chip companies will definitely be affected in a short period of time.