Cadence Launches AI 'Super Agent' to Revolutionize Circuit Board Design
Cadence Design Systems has launched AuraStack, an AI super agent that allows engineers to describe circuit board and chip packaging goals in plain language, then autonomously plans and executes the design work. The tool can cut time-to-market by up to half and boost productivity on individual tasks as much as 15-fold.
Cadence Design Systems has launched AuraStack, an artificial intelligence "super agent" that designs printed circuit boards and chip packages from natural language prompts.
The tool lets engineers describe their goals in plain language, then plans and carries out the work using Cadence's existing software tools to lay out and virtually test circuit designs.
Cadence said Nvidia chips will accelerate the AI processing, and early users include Nvidia, TSMC, and Schneider Electric.
The tool addresses a critical bottleneck in electronics design where 65 percent of an engineer's day is spent navigating repetitive tasks rather than making high-value design decisions.
In a demonstration, AuraStack showed an engineer reworking a 5G smartphone's circuit board to build a cheaper version for a new market. The AI recommended consolidating components for a 28 percent cost saving, then found a lower-cost power-management chip that worked with the existing board design.
"The bottleneck isn't automation. It's really engineering intelligence." – Michael Jackson, Cadence CVP and GM for system design and analysis
Cadence said AuraStack can cut time-to-market by up to half and deliver a 15-fold productivity boost on individual tasks.
For FORVIA HELLA, working with Cadence has enabled placement of 300 components on integrated circuits in just four minutes, down from four days, giving engineers room to evaluate more design alternatives earlier in development.
TSMC reported productivity boosted by 100 times over years of collaboration with Cadence on substrate auto routing.
Cadence is positioning AuraStack as the only agentic AI spanning the full electronics system design flow, from digital and analog silicon design to advanced packaging and PCB design.
As the agentic EDA transformation accelerates, Cadence's AuraStack represents a shift from automation to autonomous design assistance.
The tool doesn't replace engineers but orchestrates Cadence's existing simulation and testing suites, handling the scutwork so engineers can focus on architecture and innovation.
