China’s EDA software provider UniVista steps up collaboration with peers for a stronger ecosystem

By Greg Gao

(JW Insights) Jul 21 -- China’s EDA software provider UniVista(合见工软) is working on building a new ecosystem for the country's EDA industry through more collaboration peer companies, mergers & acquisitions and investment, JW Insights learned recently.

Nearly a hundred domestic EDA companies currently have cropped up over last couple of years in China. As a result, there is the need to create a conducive ecosystem among them. More comprehensive tools should be tailored to meet user demands, while avoiding industry sector fragmentation with too many small-scale operations. It has become top priorities facing China’s EDA industry, a JW Insights analyst pointed out.

UniVista and another EDA firm, Empyrean(华大九天), jointly announced recently that they would work together to build a mixed-signal design and simulation EDA solution. This marks not only the first deep cooperation between major Chinese EDA companies and will facilitate the whole indusry in the country.

Liu Haiyan, vice president of UniVista, said the collaboration integrates UniVista’s expertise in digital signal logic simulation with Empyrea’s technical accumulation and advantages in analog signal transistor-level simulation. It represents a beneficial exploration and will achieve a more comprehensive EDA solutions for China.

The three major EDA giants - Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Mentor Graphics - currently dominate the global EDA market, indicating a high level of concentration within the industry. In contrast, there are nearly a hundred domestic EDA companies in China. This large number of companies could hinder growth and lead to unstructured competition.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are also essential means for industry consolidation. UniVista adheres to a foundation of self-research while complementing it with a strategy of partial investment and M&A. This approach enables the company to rapidly enhance its overall product portfolio competitiveness in a short period, according Liu.

UniVista’s product portfolio covers multiple domains. It includes chip-level EDA solutions, encompassing most of the processes. It also

provides system-level EDA solutions for packaging design. It expanded to IP product line after a successful acquisition of Ori Tech this year.

The establishment of an industrial ecosystem heavily relies on a skilled workforce, said Liu. UniVista has formed a team of nearly a thousand professionals, with technical personnel comprising approximately 90% of the workforce.

UniVista was founded in March 2021 in Shanghai as an industrial software and design solutions provider. Pan Jianyue is the company’s chairman, and a team of core members each with 15–20 years of EDA experience.