Huada Jiutian: Helping domestic EDA tool systems advance from "usable" to "user-friendly"

(Source: Beijing Capital Circle)

Under the wave of artificial intelligence, the global semiconductor industry is seeing strong momentum, and China-made semiconductor companies are also accelerating their rise. As the very top of the semiconductor industry chain, electronic design automation (EDA) is known as the “mother of chips.” What is EDA? In simple terms, it is a design approach that uses computer-aided design software to complete processes such as chip function design, synthesis, verification, and physical design.

“EDA is hailed as the ‘jewel on the crown’ of the semiconductor industry. It is the core foundational tool for the semiconductor design, manufacturing, packaging, and other stages, and it is also a key support for ensuring high-quality development of the integrated circuit industry.” Recently, reporters from The Securities Daily visited Beijing Huada Jiutian Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Huada Jiutian”). Company personnel told reporters from The Securities Daily that, as a local enterprise providing full-process EDA tool systems for analog circuit design, since its establishment in 2009 with an initial project team of 40 people, Huada Jiutian has grown into a listed company with nearly 1,500 employees today, including R&D and technical personnel accounting for more than 70%.

When discussing its future development goals, relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian told reporters from The Securities Daily: “Over the next one to two years, the company will complete full-process system layout of EDA for digital circuit design, wafer manufacturing, advanced packaging, and optoelectronic EDA, and support the stringing of related products, through models such as independent R&D, acquisition and integration, and cooperative development. We will accelerate the creation of China-made end-to-end, full-spectrum EDA tool systems, and promote the transition of China-made EDA tool systems from ‘usable’ to ‘easy to use’.”

Unblocking the full-spectrum, end-to-end EDA flow

“According to SEMI data, the current global EDA market size is around $15 billion, accounting for roughly 2% to 3% of the overall integrated circuit industry; while the domestic EDA market size is expected to be about RMB 12 billion.” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said that although the overall EDA industry scale is not large, its importance stands out, with a relatively strong leverage effect.

“In terms of market value, EDA supports the digital economy with tens of trillions of dollars in scale.” The above-mentioned source further said, “With the semiconductor industry iterating and expanding, the EDA market size has also expanded. In terms of growth rate, currently the growth rate of China’s EDA industry is faster than that of overseas markets, and the expected CAGR is between 10% and 20%.”

Specifically, a complete end-to-end integrated circuit design and manufacturing process mainly includes core stages such as front-end design, back-end physical implementation, wafer manufacturing, and packaging and testing. In addition, these core stages are all inseparable from EDA assistance. Moreover, with the rapid development of the integrated circuit industry, design scale, complexity, and process advancement continue to improve, and EDA has become a key factor for improving design efficiency and accelerating technological progress and innovation in the industry.

Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said that whether EDA tools are “good” or not will directly affect chip performance, R&D efficiency, and the success rate of tape-out. Technological breakthroughs are an important prerequisite for solving the semiconductor “bottleneck” problem and achieving substantial breakthroughs across the entire industrial chain.

As it is learned, the EDA industry has relatively high market concentration, and the global EDA market is mainly monopolized by three major international players: Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens EDA. Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said that in the China-made EDA market, the company’s sales revenue remains No. 1 in the market, and at the same time, based on continuously expanding its business scope, it continues to improve its market share.

In terms of technological breakthroughs, Huada Jiutian’s point-tool performance in some EDA fields can already be benchmarked against international giants. It has also achieved full-process coverage across four major EDA fields: analog circuit design, storage circuit design, RF circuit design, and flat panel display. In the future, it will accelerate the completion of missing point-tool technologies in other segments, and realize an end-to-end EDA tool system for the full spectrum.

In Huada Jiutian’s view, aiming for an EDA full-spectrum, end-to-end tool development strategy has become a necessary path for China-made EDA to break through. Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said that the “end-to-end” strategic layout is beneficial for deeply binding the company with leading strategic customers, enhancing market competitiveness, and also beneficial for building core technology barriers, laying the groundwork for breakthroughs in EDA tools with higher technical difficulty.

“From the development path of international giants, their market positions have formed full-process toolchain barriers through decades of systematic acquisition and integration.” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said, “To narrow the gap with international giants, the company is also actively seeking suitable investment and acquisition targets and strengthening the intensity of cooperation for industry co-development, accelerating breakthroughs in point-tool technologies in areas such as digital circuit design, wafer manufacturing, and advanced packaging, and filling in end-to-end elements.”

In fact, fully unblocking the end-to-end flow in the EDA field is not easy. According to the introduction, based on the technology of its Panda system, Huada Jiutian spent nearly 10 years to complete full-process analog coverage. Although technology is accelerating today, it still takes about 5 years for a point-tool technology to go from R&D to commercialization. Currently, Huada Jiutian has completed 80% commercialization coverage of tools in the field of digital circuit design, and will continue to push forward the end-to-end layout in that field. Meanwhile, in the fields of 3DIC design and advanced packaging design, in December 2025, Huada Jiutian signed an agreement with Xidian University. The two sides will carry out strategic cooperation around EDA electromagnetic field simulation and multiphysics field simulation. In the industry’s view, this cooperation is expected to help the company transform from an “EDA tool vendor” to a “system-level software supplier.”

Looking at industry technology development trends, relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said: “As Moore’s Law approaches physical limits, improvements in chip performance are shifting from ‘process miniaturization’ to ‘system architecture innovation.’ Technologies such as Chiplet heterogeneous integration, advanced packaging, and three-dimensional stacking are becoming mainstream. This requires EDA tools to extend from purely chip-level design to system-level coordinated optimization. At the same time, this also provides China-made EDA an opportunity window to narrow the gap with international giants on emerging tracks.”

Achieving coordinated innovation through ecosystem co-building

EDA breakthroughs cannot rely on single-point technology “fighting alone.” Instead, it requires the industry chain to “keep each other warm.” In the view of market institutions, by firmly pursuing the independent R&D route and strengthening ecosystem building, China’s EDA companies are expected to stand out in future market competition, thereby achieving high-quality development of China’s chip industry.

“The reason ecosystem building for EDA is so crucial is that chip design is a highly interdependent, systemic engineering effort—EDA tools must be deeply compatible with foundry process parameters, IP vendors’ IP libraries, and the process depth of design enterprises. Any break in one link will cause the tool to be ‘unusable.’” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said this.

“Three major international giants have already formed stable ecosystem alliances. Even if new entrants achieve breakthroughs in single-point technology, it is still difficult to quickly integrate into the industry system.” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said that for China-made EDA to break through, the only way is to rebuild a closed-loop local ecosystem, so as to get rid of reliance on overseas processes and IP and truly realize the leap from ‘usable’ to ‘easy to use.’

As introduced, Huada Jiutian has been deeply bound with major domestic wafer manufacturing companies, establishing a closed-loop cooperation from process development, co-building PDKs (process design kits), to basic IP development and tape-out verification, forming a localized ecosystem for coordinated optimization among “design—manufacturing—EDA.” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian explained: “Currently, our coverage rate of ecosystem building for domestic process nodes is about 70%, which also provides solid support for the landing and application of China-made EDA tool systems.”

“The development of the EDA industry is inseparable from the adherence to long-termism and the refinement of a craftsman’s spirit.” Relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said, “From the initial project team of 40 people, the company has grown into a listed industry leader in China-made EDA. Behind decades of deep cultivation is the ‘six hearts’ commitment—confidence, determination, perseverance, patience, unity, and craftsmanship. In the course of development, the company has always adhered to its main business, with R&D and innovation as the core driving force; and it uses decades of technical accumulation to solve one ‘bottleneck’ problem after another.”

Looking ahead to the future, relevant personnel at Huada Jiutian said the company will continue to improve its end-to-end toolchain by combining models of independent R&D, cooperative development, and acquisition and integration, empower tool efficiency and precision through AI technology, rely on resources across the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to promote deep coordination across the industrial chain, and accelerate the iteration and optimization of China-made EDA tools, contributing to the high-quality development of China’s semiconductor industry.

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