May 24, 2004 -- IBM and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing have announced support from leading EDA suppliers for their cross-foundry design enablement program, starting at 90nm.

Under separate collaborations also announced today, the jointly developed IBM-Chartered 90nm process platform was bolstered through the addition of nanometer-scale design libraries, EDA tools and standard foundry reference flows from Cadence Design Systems, Magma Design Automation, Mentor Graphics Corporation, and Synopsys.

Cadence, Magma, Mentor, and Synopsys are working closely with IBM and Chartered to characterize their design technologies, pre-verify design data and validate tool flows that can help lower the customer risk and cost associated with adopting the 90nm process, as well as streamline the ability to seamlessly move between the two foundries. Key deliverables include:

Cadence RTL-to-GDSII reference flow based on the Encounter(TM) digital IC design platform; Magma design enablement kit with RTL-to-GDSII reference flow for its Blast Create, Blast Plan and Blast Fusion advanced IC design tools; Mentor Calibre design-to-silicon platform support for physical design verification; and Synopsys RTL-to-GDSII implementation flow based on the Galaxy Design Platform and verification based on the Discovery Verification Platform.

"It is critical that we continue to develop and support a global technology platform that gives our customers access to the industry's most advanced 90nm process and do it in a way that makes moving between our two foundries transparent. As part of our collaboration with Chartered, customers get support from these key EDA suppliers simultaneously for both foundries, saving valuable time and providing enhanced sourcing options," said Tom Reeves, vice president, semiconductor products and solutions, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "By working closely with experts that are deeply involved with issues such as power, signal integrity, timing closure and design for manufacturing, we can streamline the development process for our mutual customers."

"A world-class process platform requires support from world-class technology suppliers," said Kevin Meyer, vice president of worldwide marketing and services at Chartered. "With the help of EDA innovators including Cadence, Magma, Mentor Graphics, and Synopsys, we're building a design ecosystem for the IBM-Chartered process that is the most robust and production-worthy in the industry, and brings the benefits of both 90nm silicon and seamless foundry compatibility to leading-edge product developers. Our collaboration with IBM is focused on providing an unprecedented level of flexible access to leading-edge capacity from two of the world's leading manufacturers."