In today’s fast-moving technology landscape, particularly in consumer electronics, companies are under increasing pressure to innovate quickly while maintaining quality. Silicon Intellectual Property (Silicon IP) has emerged as a critical enabler for accelerating System on Chip (SoC) design, product development and reducing time-to-market (TTM). This article explores the role of Silicon IP in speeding up product launches, the factors to consider when selecting an IP supplier, and why it’s particularly valuable for next-gen consumer electronics products.
What is Silicon IP?
Silicon IP refers to pre-designed and pre-verified circuit blocks that can be licensed and integrated into semiconductor designs. These blocks cover common functions such as CPUs, DSPs, NPUs, memory controllers, communication interfaces (wireless connectivity IP), sensors, audio interfaces and AI accelerators, among others. Rather than creating these components from scratch at a considerable cost in-house, companies can use available Silicon IP to save time, reduce risk, and focus on differentiating features. These blocks are tested and proven in production, helping companies avoid design errors and reducing verification time.
Making the Case for Silicon IP
Silicon IP plays a crucial role in reducing chip development costs and speeding up time-to-market. Traditionally, developing a custom semiconductor design required building many components from scratch, a costly and time-intensive process. With Silicon IP, engineers can integrate pre-verified blocks, which shortens design, testing, and validation cycles. By opting for silicon IP for certain components, internal teams can focus on innovation and differentiating features. Moreover, IP providers often offer comprehensive documentation, simulation models, integration support, and complementary ecosystem offerings, all of which help accelerate development.
Build vs. Buy of Silicon IP
Companies face a decision between building custom solutions or buying pre-designed IP. Building custom components gives complete control over design but is costly and time-consuming. Conversely, buying Silicon IP offers immediate access to proven, production-ready solutions, saving time and reducing risk. While buying IP involves upfront licensing costs, long-term savings in development time, resource allocation, and maintenance make it a compelling choice for most projects, especially when dealing with functionalities that the internal design team is not familiar with.
Selecting Your IP Supplier: How Important is This Decision?
Choosing the right IP supplier is essential to successful integration. The ideal IP provider should have a proven track record of silicon-proven IP, offering reliability and scalability. They should also provide robust technical support, clear and flexible licensing terms, and compatibility with common EDA tools and fabrication processes. Long-term support and frequent updates are also key, ensuring that the IP remains relevant throughout the product’s lifecycle.
How Does This All Play Into Accelerating Product Launches?
Silicon IP accelerates product launches by reducing the time required for design, validation, and testing. Since many core components are pre-designed and silicon-proven, engineers can move quickly from design to prototyping and full production. The use of pre-verified blocks ensures that the product is reliable and reduces the risk of costly design errors. With the right IP supplier providing comprehensive support, teams can focus on differentiation and system innovation, allowing for faster market entry.
Why Is This Particularly Important for Next-Gen Consumer Products?
Next-gen consumer products like smartphones, tablets, wearables, IoT devices, and connected cars, often face tight time-to-market requirements. These products demand integration of advanced technologies, such as AI, machine learning, and 5G connectivity, all of which can be accelerated with Silicon IP. Additionally, Silicon IP helps meet the stringent power, size, and performance requirements common in mobile and wearable devices. By leveraging IP, companies can rapidly incorporate cutting-edge features without compromising design or performance, ultimately reducing development time.
Best Practices for Leveraging Silicon IP
To maximize the benefits of Silicon IP, companies should adopt best practices such as selecting proven, silicon-verified IP blocks. Integrating IP early in the design process and conducting continuous testing helps identify potential issues early on. Companies should also maintain version control and document all IP usage in a centralized library. Close collaboration with IP vendors for tuning and debugging is also crucial, as is incorporating post-silicon feedback to inform future decisions.
A Few Examples: Ceva Silicon IP Accelerating Product Launch and Reducing Time-to-Market
Few notable examples of Silicon IP accelerating product development are Ceva’s work with Sonova, a leading hearing-aid company, integrating Ceva’s Bluetooth functionality into a new hearing-aid chip and device, work with Novatek, integrating Ceva’s vision DSP for surveillance chips and systems, and work with Renesas, integrating Ceva’s AI processor for automotive safety.
By licensing Ceva’s pre-verified IP cores, these companies were able to integrate such components quickly, avoiding the time-consuming process of developing them in-house. As a result, the end-products powered by these chips were launched months ahead of schedule, and the integration was smooth, with high performance and reliability. These examples illustrate how Silicon IP can lead to faster product development and reduce time-to-market.
Summary
Silicon IP is a powerful tool that accelerates SoC development, reduces risk, and helps companies bring innovative products to market faster. By leveraging pre-verified, production-ready IP blocks, companies can focus on differentiation while bypassing time-consuming design and verification tasks. The decision to buy or build Silicon IP, as well as the choice of IP supplier, significantly impacts the success of a project. For next-gen consumer products, Silicon IP is particularly valuable in meeting tight deadlines and incorporating advanced technologies. By following best practices and selecting the right supplier, companies can ensure faster, more efficient product development, securing a competitive advantage in the market. Check out Ceva’s IP portfolio here.
Moshe Sheier
