Magma, NEC to Collaborate on 65-nm Design

Magma Design Automation Inc., a provider of semiconductor design software, today announced that it has expanded its relationship with NEC Electronics, a leading supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions. Under the terms of the new, multi-year license agreement, NEC Electronics will expand its deployment of Magma software and the two companies will collaborate on several technology development initiatives, including integrated circuits (ICs) at the 65-nanometer node and beyond.

This agreement builds on an engagement announced in 2004 in which NEC Electronics began deploying Magma’s complete line of IC implementation software, including Blast Create, Blast Plan, Blast Fusion, Blast Rail and Blast Noise, to its worldwide design teams and design centers. NEC Electronics has already successfully implemented numerous designs using the Magma software. Based on the timing, area, power and turnaround time improvements that have been achieved, NEC Electronics will significantly increase its use of the Magma software.

“Magma’s unique approach to IC implementation – true concurrent optimization with a unified data model and a single executable architecture – has enabled our design teams to complete many difficult designs in a short time and meet our customers’ requirements,” said Kazu Yamada, associate vice president, Technology Foundation Development Operations Unit, NEC Electronics Corporation. “We are achieving higher productivity and producing better-quality chips.”

“We are very pleased to be expanding our partnership with NEC Electronics,” said Mehrdad Shahabi, president of Magma Japan Ltd. “We are also pleased with the rapid rate of adoption of our technology at NEC Electronics design centers and design teams. We are committed to providing the best technology to meet their challenging requirements and the best engineering support to assure full adoption.”