By Greg Gao

(JW Insights) Jun 28 -- Two Chinese EDA software UniVista(合见工软) and Empyrean(华大九天), jointly announced on June 26 that they will work together to build a mixed-signal design and simulation EDA (Electronic Design Automation) solution.

The partnership will leverage UniVista’s proprietary commercial UniVista Simulator (UVS) for efficient digital verification simulation and Empyrean’s high-speed and high-precision parallel transistor-level circuit simulation tool, Empyrean ALPS®. The collaboration addresses the challenges of mixed-signal simulation in chip design for Chinese semiconductor companies.

Liu Jingjun, vice president of UniVista, stated, “During the support process for customers’ digital simulation projects, UniVista frequently encounters demands related to mixed-signal simulation. We are delighted to deepen our collaboration with Empyrean, and strengthen joint development based on the integration of UVS and ALPS through the VPI interface.”

Zhou Zhenya, deputy general manager of R&D at Empyrean, commented, “The cooperation between our two companies has explored a path for China’s domestic EDA product technology collaboration and innovation, which will undoubtedly contribute to the development of the EDA industry in the country.

The joint solution enables IC enterprises to simulate and optimize mixed-signal chip designs. It ensures the accuracy and reliability of chip performance under various real-world conditions, including noise, interference, and temperature changes. Additionally, mixed-signal simulation helps designers optimize circuit structures and parameter settings, enhancing chip performance and reliability. With this solution, customers can accelerate the chip development process and improve the functional verification of their designs, ensuring correctness and reliability, according to the two companies.

The application areas will cover various analog microcontroller applications such as industrial control, automotive electronics, and power management.

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

Founded in Beijing in 2009, Empyrean was listed on ChiNext of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in July 2022. It has major R&D centers in Nanjing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Empyrean provides complete solutions for analog chip design, digital SoC, and flat panel display design, as well as EDA-related services such as foundry design enablement services.