To the different acquisitions can also be added various collaborations and partnerships around EDA and electronic solutions, including last week’s announced exclusive OEM agreement, where Alphawave Semis’ portfolio of interconnected high-speed silicon IP platforms is being brought into the Siemens sales channel. From the perspective of market development, the investment appears to be a sound step; EDA is today one of the most important elements in modern product realization where electronics, advanced chips and software increasingly control product content. This is clearly reflected in the revenue pattern of the Siemens PLM division, where the EDA part has grown to account for just over a third of total PLM revenues. But no matter how you look at it, the purchase of Mentor in 2017 stands out in the rearview mirror of history as a key investment, which has since been built upon step by step to today take a position as a tough challenger to the Synopsys/Ansys combination in electronics, advanced silicon IP, and related simulation solutions. Undeniably important pieces in view of strong traditional Siemens industry target segments such as automotive, aerospace & defense, heavy machinery, medical technology, electronics/hightech, and the like.
Reducing bottlenecks
About Alpawave, notably the company is an industry leader in high-speed connectivity IP with 112G and 224G SERDES chip designs across multiple nodes and fabs. In this, Alphawave delivers proven, multi-standard silicon IP platforms that enable faster data transfer and greater reliability with lower power for designs in 7nm, 6nm, 5nm and beyond.
“Siemens Digital Industries Software is an important and trusted partner for AI and hyperscaler developers, and our agreement simplifies and accelerates the process of developing SoCs for these, and other leading technologies. We are excited to bring Alphawave Semi’s IP to this market,” said Tony Pialis, CEO and President, Alphawave Semi. “Our technology plays a critical role in reducing interconnection bottlenecks and this collaboration significantly expands our customer reach, enabling more companies to deliver next-level computing.”
He added that Siemens will serve as a key partner associated with Alphawave Semi’s PHY, Controller and Subsystem platform IP optimized for advanced technology nodes – either individually or in conjunction with Siemens’ comprehensive range of EDA tools and services.
With this agreement, Siemens will be able to offer a range of solutions
PHY IP: Alphawave Semi’s industry-leading portfolio of multi-standard IP connectivity covering Ethernet, PCIe, CXL and Die-to-Die applications. These IPs support a wide range of data rates from 1Gbps to 224Gbps, used in over 30 different industry protocols/standards.
Controller IP: Siemens will offer MultiChannel/MultiRate Ethernet, PCIe, PCIe/CXL Combo, D2D streaming and HBM3E Memory Controllers, which together represent the industry’s leading comprehensive IP solution portfolio for interface controllers. These IPs cover the most widely used connectivity interfaces and offer low power, area and latency, while targeting applications in the data center, telecom, cloud computing, AI, NPU and 5G wireless spaces.
Subsystem platforms: Siemens’ offering will also include Alphawave Semi’s subsystem platforms, which combine industry-leading PHY IP and interface controller IP for an efficient end-to-end solution.
Meeting growing demand
Siemens and Alphawave Semi’s sales and solutions teams are joining forces to meet the growing demand for custom silicon and chiplet-based ASICs in the AI era. ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) are computer chips that combine multiple circuits on a SoC to enable custom programming for specific tasks. Together, Siemens and Alphawave Semi will provide a comprehensive solution stack that extends from initial concepts to finished production parts. This collaboration aims to serve high-growth markets in AI, HPC and Networking, and offer flexible business models tailored to different customer categories.
