Siemens unveils AI-powered EDA platform for chip & PCB design
Siemens Digital Industries Software has introduced artificial intelligence capabilities across its EDA platform for semiconductor and printed circuit board design.
With the launch of its new EDA AI system, Siemens aims to allow engineers to use generative and agentic AI within established electronic design automation (EDA) workflows, providing secure access and interoperability. The AI suite includes integration of NVIDIA NIM microservices and NVIDIA Nemotron models, which Siemens says will help accelerate system-on-a-chip (SoC) and PCB design flows, as well as system verification processes.
The company stated that its EDA AI system is purpose-built for semiconductor and PCB environments, with tools that support secure, advanced AI capabilities and enable customisation and integration across EDA workflows. The system is designed to let engineering teams use their own design data and establish AI-driven workflows that align with their needs without disrupting existing processes.
Investment in industrial AI
"We are strategically investing in developing sophisticated industrial-grade AI solutions purpose-built for the unique complexities of EDA. This accumulated expertise forms the technological foundation that empowers our customers to bring breakthrough semiconductor and PCB designs to market faster than ever before," said Mike Ellow, CEO, Siemens EDA, Siemens Digital Industries Software. "Siemens is set to revolutionise the way design teams operate, ushering in a future where generative and agentic AI capabilities are seamlessly integrated into every aspect of the EDA workflow."
Siemens added that its AI system can operate both on-premises and in cloud-hosted environments, with secure data protection managed within a customer's own data centre. The platform includes enterprise-grade security features, customisable access control, and a multimodal data lake that creates a cumulative effect to support productivity and adapt to multiple AI models - including both language models and machine learning approaches.
Collaboration with NVIDIA
Siemens' new AI-driven tools benefit from NVIDIA's technology stack. The suite supports NVIDIA NIM microservices, which handle scalable inference models both in cloud and on-premises deployments, and the Llama Nemotron suite, which brings advanced reasoning and automation to the EDA design flow. According to both companies, this collaboration enables greater productivity and tool orchestration for EDA professionals.
"AI agents can dramatically boost productivity for complex electronic design automation to support engineers across layout optimisation, simulation and verification, freeing engineers to focus on creative problem-solving and advanced design challenges," said Tim Costa, Senior Director of CAE and CUDA-X at NVIDIA. "With NVIDIA NIM microservices and Llama Nemotron reasoning models, Siemens EDA can speed the development of tomorrow's most intricate electronic systems."
Product updates across the EDA portfolio
The Siemens EDA portfolio enhancements include several flagship AI-powered products. Aprisa AI is described as a next-generation AI tool integrated with the Aprisa digital implementation workflow. It incorporates features for design exploration, power-performance-area optimisation, and offers AI-assisted example solutions through a natural language interface. According to Siemens, Aprisa AI can deliver up to 10 times productivity improvement, reduce time to tapeout by threefold, and achieve 10% better power, performance, and area (PPA) results across various digital designs.
Calibre Vision AI is introduced as a solution for chip integration signoff, using clustering methods to help teams quickly identify and address design violations. The tool is intended to allow design teams to prioritise their activities and boost collaboration during physical verification, with integration into existing layout viewers and physical design tools for minimal disruption.
Siemens has also updated its Solido custom IC platform with generative and agentic AI features. These enhancements span the requirements of schematic capture, simulation, variation-aware design and verification, library characterisation, layout, and intellectual property validation. The company said these changes are intended to achieve significant productivity gains for engineering teams working on custom integrated circuits.
Workflow and security considerations
The new Siemens EDA AI system supports workflow integration for custom use cases while maintaining a focus on data security and access control. Deployment options span both cloud and private environments, which the company said ensures data protection and compliance for its clients. The system also includes mechanisms to refine the toolset over time - data generated within user workflows contributes to a centralised data lake that enables continuous AI learning and workflow adaptation.
Early access to the Siemens EDA AI system is currently available.
