Leading-edge consumer electronics products are driving integrated circuit technology in all dimensions — performance, cost, integration, power consumption, and time-to-market. The analog/RF circuitry in these ICs is both the largest differentiator and the most difficult design challenge in getting them into volume production. Berkeley Design Automation’s Precision Circuit Analysis technology enables designers to rapidly and accurately verify problems that otherwise would be impractical or infeasible. Using this technology, design teams save precious design time, lower risk, and deliver smaller, lower-power silicon.

“We face rapid product development cycles and mass-market cost pressures in the audio, video, home, and wireless consumer products we develop,” said Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Director of Corporate R&D Strategy at Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. “Analog and RF circuits make up a significant portion of the semiconductors in these products. Today’s circuit verification tools are unable to deliver the functionality, speed, and accuracy required for these aggressive consumer electronics designs.”
“After an extensive evaluation, we determined that Berkeley Design Automation’s Precision Circuit Analysis technology presents a strategic competitive advantage to Panasonic and is critical to our success,” added Dilip Sampath, Venture Partner with Panasonic. “We believe in the technology so much that we decided to invest in the company.”

Berkeley Design Automation will use the investment to launch its Precision Circuit Analysis technology. The company entered the market last year with PLL Noise Analyzer(TM) which focused on a narrow, but notoriously difficult problem. Having proven the silicon accuracy, performance, and robustness of its technology on over 75 production designs, the company is readying itself to enter the general market to tackle a wide range of the most difficult analog/RF verification problems.

“We are delighted and honored to have Matsushita Electric Industrial as an investor,” said Ravi Subramanian, CEO at Berkeley Design Automation. “As the world’s largest consumer electronics company, Matsushita deploys some of the world’s most advanced design platforms for consumer electronics IC design. This investment validates not only our technology; it also validates its positive disruptive potential in analog/RF circuit design.”