Industrial Automation Magazine India

Siemens acquires UltraSoC to drive design for silicon lifecycle management

Published on : Thursday 25-06-2020

Acquisition expands Xcelerator portfolio and creates data-driven product lifecycle management solutions for system-on-chip SoC

Cambraidge, England, June 2020 – Siemens has signed an agreement to acquire Cambridge, UK-based UltraSoC Technologies Ltd, a provider of instrumentation and analytics solutions that put intelligent monitoring, cybersecurity and functional safety capabilities into the core hardware of system-on-chip (SoC). Siemens plans to integrate UltraSoC's technology into the Xcelerator portfolio as part of Mentor's Tessent™ software product suite. The addition of UltraSoC to Siemens enables a unified data-driven infrastructure that can enhance product quality, safety and cybersecurity, and the creation of a comprehensive solution to help semiconductor industry customers overcome key pain points including manufacturing defects, software and hardware bugs, device early-failure and wear-out, functional safety, and malicious attacks. The combination of Siemens and UltraSoC technology can benefit the entire semiconductor product lifecycle, including structural, electrical, and functional capabilities of SoCs.

The combination of Siemens and UltraSoC technology can benefit the entire semiconductor product lifecycle, including structural, electrical, and functional capabilities of SoCs.

"Siemens' acquisition of UltraSoC means that for the first time our customers can access not just design-for-test, but a comprehensive 'Design for Lifecycle Management' solution for system-on-chips, including functional safety, security and optimization," says Brady Benware, Tessent Vice President and General Manager, Siemens Digital Industries Software. "By utilizing design augmentation to detect, mitigate and eliminate risks throughout the SoC lifecycle, customers can radically improve time-to-revenue, product quality & safety, and profitability. UltraSoC has a fast-growing business and impressive customer list and, as part of Siemens, can complement Tessent to create a truly unique offering in the market."

UltraSoC is a pioneer of embedding monitoring hardware into complex SoCs to enable "fab-to-field" analytics capabilities designed to accelerate silicon bring-up, optimize product performance, and confirm that devices are operating "as designed" for functional safety and cybersecurity purposes. Tessent is a market leader in SoC design-for-test (DFT) solutions, and has established strengths in the field of automotive functional safety via its Tessent Safety Ecosystem. These two highly complementary offerings are the foundation of a complete package of solutions, encompassing semiconductor design and production, functional safety, cybersecurity, and functional optimization of products in the field.

The combination of Siemens and UltraSoC technology can benefit the entire semiconductor product lifecycle, including structural, electrical, and functional capabilities of SoCs. It also supports Siemens' comprehensive digital twin with UltraSoC providing monitoring of the real device.