Siemens expands IC verification portfolio with acquisition

Fractal's offerings include a suite of IP validation and comparison checks used by foundries, IP providers, integrated device manufacturers and fabless semiconductor companies to accelerate time-to-tapeout and improve silicon results by enabling design data quality and integrity. "Today's semiconductor design teams are seeking every possible advantage to deliver advanced, high-quality SoCs to market as rapidly as possible," says Ravi Subramanian, Ph.D., senior vice president, IC Verification, Siemens Digital Industries Software in a press release. "Our acquisition of Fractal Technologies, combined with the Solido product family, provides customers a tremendous advantage with a comprehensive IP validation solution that can speed design schedules, improve power, performance, and area (PPA) and identify sources of silicon failure before design tapeout." Siemens plans to add Fractal's technology to the Xcelerator portfolio as part of its suite of EDA IC verification offerings. Fractal's products will join the Solido software product family, including the Solido Characterization Suite, which remains the industry standard for machine-learning acceleration of IP validation and characterisation. "Semiconductor IP such as standard cells, memories, I/Os, and other specialized custom IP are the critical foundation upon which the world's chips are built," says Rene Donkers, chief executive officer for Fractal Technologies. "Being part of Siemens allows us to accelerate our R&D efforts, support a growing customer base, and further our vision to help enhance design closure predictability and turnaround time." Siemens' acquisition of Fractal Technologies closed in May 2021. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.