Semiconductors act as the secret powerhouse behind various industries, from healthcare to manufacturing to financial services. In the last few years alone, we’ve seen how essential semiconductors can be and why companies need to develop this technology rapidly to maximize productivity. As semiconductor manufacturers strive to keep up with customer expectations, electronic design automation (EDA) tools are the keys to unlocking the solution.  

However, to truly drive innovation at scale, EDA leaders need massive computing power. As the need to manage compute-intensive workloads with high levels of resiliency and performance grows, now is the time to turn to the cloud for high-performance computing (HPC).

By taking advantage of solutions like IBM Cloud® HPC, organizations can more effectively manage their peak workloads while mitigating the risk of downtime. In the coming years, we expect having high levels of compute power will become even more crucial as more organizations turn to generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) to enhance productivity across the EDA space. This is where hybrid cloud HPC solutions can be especially valuable.

Cadence leverages IBM Cloud HPC

Cadence is a global leader in EDA. With over 30 years of computational software experience, Cadence continues to help companies design innovative electronic products that drive today’s emerging technology, including chips, boards and systems for dynamic market applications like hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, mobile, aerospace, consumer, industrial and healthcare.  With over 10,000 engineers and millions of jobs being implemented every month, Cadence requires a significant amount of compute resources. Coupled with the growing demand for more chips and the company’s incorporation of AI and machine learning into its EDA processes, their need for compute power is at an all-time high. Organizations in the EDA industry like Cadence need solutions that enable workloads to seamlessly shift between on-premises and the cloud—while also allowing for differentiation from project to project. A hybrid cloud approach delivers the agility, flexibility and security required to fill these demands. 

The role of a hybrid cloud solution for HPC

Cadence started its public cloud journey in 2016 and now operates with a hybrid, multicloud approach, which includes IBM. With IBM Cloud® HPC to flexibly manage its compute-intensive workloads on-premises and in the cloud with high levels of resiliency and performance, the company can develop its chip and system design software faster and at scale.

As Cadence continues to drive computational software innovation, continuous operations are critical to optimizing operations across its business unit teams that are responsible for delivering chip and system design software to customers at a rapid pace. With the combined power of IBM Cloud as part of its multicloud environment and IBM LSF® as the HPC workload scheduler, Cadence has been able to achieve high-compute utilization, optimize its cloud budget, and streamline computational workloads. Cadence has also reported it is able to perform more regressions and, as a result, can support more predictable and faster time to value. As enterprises like Cadence aim to stay ahead of market trends, IBM Cloud HPC helps overcome large-scale, compute-intensive challenges and speed time to insight, which ultimately benefits the enablement of strategic R&D work.

Get started with IBM Cloud HPC

As enterprises look to solve their most complex challenges, IBM will continue to deliver clients an integrated solution across critical components of compute, network, storage and security—all while aiming to help them address regulatory and efficiency demands. IBM Cloud HPC also includes security and controls built into the platform to help clients across industries consume HPC as a managed service while helping them address third- and fourth-party risks.

With the combination of our suite of tools for workload management and scheduling—including IBM LSF and IBM Symphony® together with IBM Cloud HPC in a hybrid cloud environment—we aim to help our clients take advantage of automation that helps to optimize HPC jobs. This enables them to realize faster time to value, enhance performance and minimize cost—all critical capabilities for industries that move at a rapid pace like the semiconductor space.

Additionally, the IBM Storage Scale storage solution complements IBM Cloud HPC further, offering a single, globally integrated solution designed to help users manage and move data across hybrid environments, in a cost-effective manner, to implement HPC workloads in real-time.

Are you going to Supercomputing 23 in Denver? Join us at IBM Booth #1925 to learn more about how IBM Cloud HPC can scale your business with speed and security.