Communications of the ACM
Despite Chip Shortage, Chip Innovation Is Booming
Companies are eager for input on computer chip design from Aart de Geus, who helps run Synopsys, a company in Mountain View, CA.
Credit: Ian C. Bates/The New York Times
A global shortage of semiconductors has cast a cloud over the plans of carmakers and other companies. But there's a silver lining for Silicon Valley executives like Aart de Geus.
He is chairman and co-chief executive of Synopsys, the biggest supplier of software that engineers use to design chips. That position gives Mr. de Geus an intimate perspective on a 60-year-old industry that until recently was showing its age.
Everyone now seems to want his opinion, as shown by the dozens of emails, calls and comments he received after addressing a recent online gathering for customers. Synopsys says people tuned in from 408 companies — more than double the number for an in-person event last held in 2019 — and many weren't conventional chip makers.
They came from cloud services, consumer electronics companies, defense contractors, auto component providers, U.S. government agencies, universities, two Bitcoin mining companies and a furniture maker. Their overriding question: How do you develop chips more quickly?
From The New York Times
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