Synopsys acquires RISC-V specialist Imperas
California-based Synopsys has bought its compatriot company Imperas to better address customer demand for RISC-V-based advanced SoCs.
The deal was not formally announced, but was uncovered by reporting in the EE Times. There is now a note on the Imperas’ web site confirming it has become part of Synopsys.
Imperas describes it mission as pioneering new solutions that solve the problem of designing a modern System-on-Chip (SoC) beyond the RTL and C code design levels, targeting Electronic System Level (ESL). However, EE Times says Imperas' expertise in developing new methodologies in RISC-V was the key driver of the Synopsys deal.
“This transaction expands Synopsys’ verification and validation solutions for RISC-V to address customer requirements for early software development and functional verification of their RISC-V-based advanced SoCs and multi-die systems," a statement from Synopsys reads.
Ravi Subramanian, general manager for the Synopsys systems design group, added: “With the move toward software-defined products in multiple markets like automotive, consumer and HPC, both system and semiconductor companies are designing custom-compute solutions optimised for specific software workloads. By acquiring Imperas, Synopsys is enhancing both its virtual prototyping and hardware-assisted verification solutions with ultra-fast, processor-modelling technologies for Arm and RISC-V CPUs. The joint solution enables earlier software development and testing, as well as accelerate validation of CPU-centric systems.”
