Cadence launches Conform AI Studio

The new generation kit includes AI driven equivalence verification, ECO automation, and low-power static sign off products
As SoC designs become increasingly complex, formal equivalence checks face greater challenges. To this end, Cadence has launched Conformal AI Studio - a brand new solution for logical equivalence checking (LEC), automated ECO (Conformal ECO), and low-power static sign off.
Conform AI Studio combines artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) technologies to directly meet the growing productivity needs of modern SoC teams. Its core engine has been accelerated and optimized, including a distributed low-power engine (supporting full chip power signature for designs with billions of instances), new algorithm innovations, and simplified setup and AI empowerment processes for LEC and ECO solutions.
With the help of Conformal AI Studio's ML driven abort solution, it is possible to solve the complex LEC problems currently faced by advanced users. Conformal AI Studio improves design efficiency by 10 times, reduces ECO patch volume by 10 times, accelerates processing speed by 10 times, and achieves optimal full process power, performance, and area (PPA) by optimizing the most advanced implementation tools.
The innovative technology of Confocal AI Studio covers three core products:
● Conformal AI Equivalence - Supports distributed Boolean logic equivalence checks, AI dashboards, and ML driven proof engines.
● Conformal AI ECO - Automatically generate functional ECO before and after masking, creating high-quality, efficient, and implementable patches to ensure predictability of progress.
● Conform AI Low Power - Use distributed and hierarchical processes to verify whether the low-power circuit structure in complex SoCs meets the designed power consumption intent, and perform efficient low-power comparisons between two designs.
The customer who first adopted Conformal AI Studio stated that the solution has demonstrated significant advantages in advanced SoCs for infrastructure AI, ultra large scale computing, and mobile markets.
MediaTek has created industry-leading SoCs that cover a wide range of application areas. Our design team needs innovative EDA tools to improve PPA faster, easier, and more reliably. This challenge is particularly prominent when executing late stage functional ECO, "explained CW Ko, Vice President of Silicon Product Development at MediaTek. During the trial period of Cadence Conformi AI Studio, we achieved significant results. Compared to previous solutions, the new Conformi AI ECO process reduced the size of tactical ECO patches by 83% and shortened the running time by nearly half. In addition, MediaTek also deployed the fast power status table analysis enhancement feature of Conformi AI Low Power, achieving over 100 times improvement in running time and memory. Currently, we are also adopting the latest ML driven LEC termination solution from Conformi AI Studio
Conformal AI ECO introduces a new Smart ECO process, which shortens the running time of early partners by up to 10 times and reduces patch volume by 10 times. This innovative approach utilizes RTL level information and a novel Boolean "Smart Cut" optimization algorithm to manage designs with multi-level structures and advanced data paths. In addition, the AI driven ECO patch solution selection simplifies the implementation of functional ECO while improving implementation efficiency.
Renesas has been actively testing Cadence's next-generation Conformal AI Studio, and the results are very exciting. Thanks to a series of new Smart ECO technologies, our automated ECO process has reduced runtime by over 50% while maintaining or even improving patch quality; in a critical ECO task, runtime has even been reduced by 90%, "said Peter Bell, Director of Digital Design and Validation at Renesas Electronics. These innovations greatly simplify the setup process, enabling more junior engineers to deploy solutions efficiently. Our team has adopted the Cadence JedAI dashboard from Conformal AI Studio early on and firmly believes that its cross project insights will help designers and managers track their LEC tasks more efficiently, as well as automate ECO operations throughout the entire project process
Although Cadence is committed to ensuring that Conformal tools are always implementation agnostic, when used in conjunction with Cadence digital design and sign off tools, it can significantly improve process efficiency. The integration of Genius Synthesis Solution, Joules RTL Power Solution, and Innovus Implementation System with Cadence JedAI Solution and Cadence Cerebus Intelligent Chip Explorer not only effectively reduces power consumption, but also further improves performance.
For decades, Conformal technology has been the most trusted process independent LEC solution on the market, ensuring that implementation tools complete validation work without introducing silicon errors. However, design challenges are becoming increasingly complex, while SoC chip cycles are shortening Cadence Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital and Sign off Business Unit, Chin Chi Teng, stated. The all-new Conformal AI Studio has emerged. The new generation of fully distributed and multi-threaded core engines can handle today's most complex designs and support leading sequence optimization verification technologies, helping to improve PPA. Integrated with the Cadence JedAI big data platform and ML driven Cadence Cerebus, Conformal AI Studio can help customers shorten runtime by 5-10 times, enabling abort problem resolution during logic equivalence, ECO patch optimization, and SoC level low-power static sign off and debugging