Cadence honoured at SBR Technology Excellence Awards 2025

The company’s accolade was in commendation of its initiatives in transforming SoC verification with machine learning.

Cadence emerged as the winner in the AI - Computer Software category at the SBR Technology Excellence Awards 2025. The award was in recognition of its cutting-edge technology, Xcelium SimAI App, which has transformed the way semiconductor companies approach verification.

This tool integrates machine learning to streamline the verification process for system on chip (SoC) designs, saving significant computational resources and time. It works seamlessly with the powerful Cadence Xcelium Logic Simulator, helping engineers close verification gaps faster whilst achieving outstanding performance.

As semiconductor designs become increasingly complex, the traditional verification methods struggle to keep up. Xcelium SimAI has changed this by utilising machine learning to optimise regression testing. It analyses past test data and selects the most relevant ones, which reduces the need for excessive tests. This process drastically cuts down compute resources, achieving up to 20 times savings but still maintaining excellent coverage and accuracy.

One of SimAI's key features is Coverage AI, which can address functional coverage challenges. The tool identifies gaps in coverage that are difficult to hit and reduces them by up to 40%. This feature means less wasted time on redundant tests and more focus on areas critical to the design’s success.

SimAI also features a bug-hunting engine that identifies rare and difficult-to-find errors.

Xcelium SimAI has already made a significant impact, particularly at a top modem/wireless company. The company adopted SimAI to assist with the verification of complex 5G designs and has achieved remarkable improvements in efficiency. In a notable case with Cadence’s Silicon Solutions Group, Xcelium SimAI reduced a regression test set from over 2,100 tests to just a third of that, significantly reducing the number of coverage holes. 

With chip designs becoming increasingly complex, the potential for Xcelium SimAI capabilities is vast. The tool could further expand to provide more detailed coverage analysis and explore a wider range of design environments. 

By combining the power of machine learning with testing optimisation, Xcelium SimAI paves the way for faster, more reliable design verification, setting a new standard in the industry.

The SBR Technology Excellence Awards recognises technological innovations and companies in Singapore that are leading the digital journeys of their respective industries. The awards programme commends companies that pioneered groundbreaking IT products and solutions, and organisations from different industries that made an impact with their innovative technology.

The SBR Technology Excellence Awards is presented by Singapore Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2026 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's outstanding contributions in pursuit of technological innovation, please contact Jane Patiag at [email protected].