AMD plans to expand use of AI in chip design

Much like its industry counterparts, AMD has commenced harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its chip design processes. Dr. Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, posits that AI-assisted tools will inevitably dictate the future of chip design as the complexity of modern processors burgeons exponentially.

According to a report by DigiTimes, Dr. Su, in her recent address at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, envisaged that AI will dominate certain aspects of chip design. She also underscored the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration for enhanced hardware design in the future.

Previously, both Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of Nvidia, and Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD, suggested that chip development is an ideal candidate for AI applications. AMD has already begun to gradually incorporate AI in semiconductor design, testing, and validation processes. Upon optimized layout, performance enhancement and energy consumption reduction can be achieved. AMD also has plans to employ generative AI more extensively in future chip applications. Additionally, AI has been utilized to expedite the validation suite, aiming to minimize the time required to detect errors from the concept to verification stages during chip development.

AI is increasingly instrumental in supporting and assisting chip design. The triumvirate of leading Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool manufacturers, Ansys, Cadence, and Synopsys, offer their clients AI-supportive software. Among these, Synopsys appears to have gained a slight edge over its competitors. Earlier, Synopsys launched Synopsys.ai, the first AI-driven end-to-end EDA solution, enabling developers to utilize AI throughout all stages of chip development, encompassing design to manufacturing.