5. Computer-aided design (CAD) float

The increasing complexity of digital circuits over time has been made possible by the development of CAD (Computer Aided Design) tools that automate the tasks of design, implementation and verification. From the first INTEL 4004 processor in 1971, with 2,300 transistors, designed and verified entirely by hand, to NVIDIA's latest graphics processor, the Tesla V100, with 21 billion transistors, we've come a long way. Thanks to the productivity brought about by design flows, a single designer can now manage partitions containing several million instances (an instance here being an instantiated element, such as a logic gate or a macro).

CAD tools are essentially sold by three main players: Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys. CAD represents a huge market, with sales for the members of this trio reaching or exceeding one billion dollars each. It should be noted that,...