- Cadence Design Systems has introduced the latest version of a supercomputer based on a custom computing chip designed to speed up the creation of other computing chips and the software that runs on them.
- Cadence develops software that is used by many companies to design chips with billions of transistors, the tiny switches that make computers work.
- Cadence introduced two upgrade systems that created a virtual version of the chip and began writing the software while waiting for the physical chip to return from the factory.
The latest version of the supercomputer
Cadence Design Systems on Wednesday introduced the latest version of a supercomputer based on a custom computing chip designed to speed up the creation of other computing chips and the software that runs on them.
Software developed by Cadence is used by Nvidia, Apple and many other companies to design chips with billions of transistors, the tiny switches that make computers work. The design process can take a year or more.
Companies like Nvidia, whose software products are as important to their overall business as their chips, don’t want to wait that long to start writing code for them.
The two upgraded systems Cadence introduced on Wednesday, called Palladium Z3 and Protium X3, create a virtual version of the chip that starts writing software while waiting for the physical chip to return from the factory. This simulation has become a key reason why tech companies are able to deliver products at a faster pace.
The world’s largest palladium installation
“Without software, these systems don’t work well,” Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan said in an interview. “The public doesn’t realise how important these tools are to the design of all these electronics.
Cadence executives said Nvidia is already testing some new Cadence systems that can simulate chips twice as large as the previous generation, which Nvidia used to design its just-released Blackwell chip.
“Palladium is the only appliance that is more important to me than a refrigerator,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at an event in Santa Clara, California, where he announced the new Cadence system. “This is the most important appliance in my life. We’re the largest palladium installation in the world.
The heart of Cadence’s Palladium simulation system is itself a custom computing chip designed by Cadence using its own tools. The chip is as large and complex as some of Nvidia’s AI chips.
“For simulation, you need to design your own chip, and we’re 10 years ahead of anyone else trying to design their own emulator,” Devgan said.
