Synopsys, Inc. completed its acquisition of PhoeniX B.V., headquartered in Enschede, the Netherlands, a global supplier of photonic chip design solutions. With the acquisition, Synopsys is the leading provider of photonic integrated circuit design automation solutions for a wide range of application requirements ranging from data communications to sensors and biomedical devices. The terms of the deal, which is not material to Synopsys financials, are not being disclosed.
Photonics, or the manipulation and movement of light waves, represents a growing opportunity and challenge in integrated circuit design. As data rate needs increase, there is growing requirement to reduce power consumption in data transmission. Thus, the use of photonic switching and transmission are becoming a more integral part of high-speed electronic designs.
The acquisition enables Synopsys to enhance and broaden the current photonics design automation offering by adding photonic aware physical layout capabilities, enabled by support for foundry-specific process design kits (PDK). Additionally, the acquired technologies will extend Synopsys’ Custom Compiler™ solution for photonic applications. With this acquisition IC design teams will have access to widely used, high-quality IC and photonic design solutions from a single provider with a single support channel.
“The PhoeniX Software technology will bolster our photonics solution in both optical and custom design,” said Dr. Howard Ko, general manager of Synopsys’ Silicon Engineering Group “the PhoeniX Software physical layout tools are a natural complement to our existing photonics solutions portfolio. The acquisition underscores our commitment to our photonics portfolio to help designers meet their evolving photonic integrated circuit design requirements.”
