Samsung Electronics has launched a cloud-based design platform for use by its fabless customers, the company said on Thursday.
Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) Cloud Design Platform (CDP), developed in collaboration with Rescale, will provide a virtual environment to design chips in the cloud, allowing customers freedom to start anytime and anywhere, the South Korean tech giant said.
The platform is secure and fabless customers can utilize various Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools offered by multiple vendors such as Ansys, Cadence, Mentor, a Siemens business and Synopsys. Samsung said.
One of Samsung’s design partners, Gaonchips, has tested the platform on its 14-nanometer automotive project using Cadence’s Innovus Implementation System. Gaonchips were able to reduce its run-time by 30 percent compared to on-premise execution, Samsung said.
SAFE CDP will reduce the burden of customers on building their own server and infrastructure while giving flexibility in time and computing power for workloads, the South Korean tech giant also said. They will also be able to utilize Samsung’s EDA and IP in their work.
Customers will required to pay an additional fee to use CDP, however.
Samsung launched the SAFE program in 2018 to foster foundry and fabless ecosystem.
Fabless firms refers to semiconductor companies that design chips but don’t have their own fabrication factories.
It has also been offering multi project wafer three to four times per process for small- and medium-sized fabless firms. It also supports 8-inch and 12-inch wafers for their testings.
