Using AI to Build Better Processors: Google Was Just the Start, Says Synopsys

In light of the rate of innovation, chip design teams have spent tens of thousands of hours honing their skills over the decades. But getting the best human-designed processor in this fashion can take six months or more, because the number of arrangements possible is equivalent to the number of atoms in the known universe... multiplied by the number of atoms in the known universe. With numbers so large, using computers to brute force the best configuration is impossible. At least, it was thought to be.

Synopsys' CEO Aart de Geus is set to take the keynote presentations at two upcoming technical semiconductor industry events this year and as part of these talks, Aart will discuss what was considered impossible only a few years ago - the path to finding a better and automated way into chip design through the use of machine learning solutions. Within the context of EDA tools, as Google has demonstrated recently, engineers can be assisted in building better processors using machine learning algorithms.