Cadence introduced AuraStack AI Super Agent, an AI agent designed to help engineering groups of all sizes in the design of printed circuit boards and advanced packaging. It will impact both small edge AI application designs with multiple sensors as well as large systems for data centers, the company told Fierce.
Cadence on Wednesday named several large customers already using AuraStack AI Super Agent on previously launched Cadence Allegro AI Studio. The system approach is meant to take concepts for PCB and packaging used in many applications, including at the edge where sensors proliferate, to final product readiness with vastly improved efficiency.
Nvidia and TSMC provided testimonials about Cadence products, along with auto electronics provider FORVIA HELLA and Schneider Electric. These customers help create PCBs and packaging systems—directly or indirectly--some that are deployed for use in data centers, and others for edge applications like vehicles and personal electronics that require multiple sensors.
Cadence has demonstrated the potential of AI to accelerate design activities and improve engineer efficiency, Schneider senior vice president Daniel Gheno said in a statement. At FORVIA HELLA, working with Cadence has resulted in fundamental changes, including the ability to place 300 components on integrated circuits in just four minutes, down from four days, according to CEO for Electronics NSA CEO Sven Hoenecke.
The time cushion gives engineers room to evaluate more design alternatives and layouts earlier in the development process. “By automating repetitive work, our teams can focus more time on solving complex engineering challenges and bringing new technologies to market faster,” Hoenecke added.
TSMC said it has seen productivity boosted by 100 times over years of collaboration with Cadence on substrate auto routing.
Nvidia said it has seen a 20X faster multiphysics performance with AuraStack and the Millennium M2000 platform. Nvidia provides Blackwell and CUDA-X accelerators for AuraStack.
Cadence said it is the only provider with agentic AI spanning the full electronics system design flow, from digital and analog silicon design, advanced packaging to PCB design. Cadence also makes ChipStack, InnoStack and ViraStack AI agents. The company claimed AuraStack can cut time to market in half by automating tasks and limiting re-spins, among other impacts.
Dave Altavilla, principal analyst with HotTech Vision and Analysis, said he has seen impressive demonstrations of AuraStack. “But like any AI platform, real validation comes when customers deploy it in production,” he said in response to questions from Fierce.
“One of the more interesting aspects of AuraStack is its potential to break down silos between electrical, mechanical, thermal and packaging teams,” he added. “As products become more integrated, these various engineering disciplines need to work in a co-optimized design process more than ever before.”
AuraStack will speed up design work for Allegro customers “almost immediately, particularly on repetitive and iterative engineering tasks, but broad adoption of fully agentic workflows will take time because engineers need to build trust before handing over more of the design process.”
Altavilla added: “The broader vision of where AI orchestrates most of the PCB and packaging design flow will take longer as engineering teams validate results and determine how much autonomy they’re comfortable giving the system…My biggest reservation is transparency of this new technology. Engineers are going to want to understand why the AI is making certain design decisions before they trust it with more of the design flow. Ultimately, trust and verification will determine how widely AuraStack gets adopted.”
Cadence hasn’t announced pricing or licensing fees yet, so Altavilla said it’s too early to judge how broadly accessible AuraStack will be. “Small robotics, medical device or drone companies don’t have large engineering teams so automating repetitive PCB and package design work could be a force multiplier.”
With such design prowess in their hands, smaller companies could conceivably be willing to part with more cash for AuraStack, and one executive at Cadence said the company realizes many small companies will find its powers valuable.
Ashutosh Mauskar, corporate vice president at Cadence, told Fierce that Cadence’s Allegro product is already used by thousands of customers and “not just the top companies…A one person company can buy this Aurastack.”