The DFM melting pot

Blaze DFM has not shed the DFM part of its name because it continues to address this market. One possible reason is that one of its co-founders Dr. Andrew Kahng in a recognized leader in the field and thus can provide technical insights that are often superior than those of the competition. To be sure, the company has also looked for innovative ways to address the market. About two months ago Blaze DFM announced an agreement with TSMC that the company called an innovative business arrangement.

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Mentor's Ponte purchase consolidates DFM technology

There's still a place for independent DFM providers, said Dave Reed, vice president of marketing and business development at Blaze DFM. "The problem of parametric yield loss in advanced nodes provides ample market opportunity to support a pure-play DFM company such as Blaze," he said. "I think market size was the biggest challenge for the physical DFM tool providers such as Ponte."

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Blaze is now the "lone ranger" in the [DFM] segment

The acquisition of DFM firm Ponte Solutions by EDA firm Mentor Graphics not only takes one of the last pure DFM companies off the table, it also answers the question about what side of the chip making wall DFM belongs, and terminates an inflection point that might not be seen again for a decade or more. This might be the end of consolidation in DFM/EDA (Blaze is now the "lone ranger" in the segment, noted [Gary] Smith), but hardly the end of DFM technology innovation.

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Cadence Languishes On

Cadence still isn’t taking any bold step in fighting out the EDA worries. One company that it should take a very close look at is Blaze DFM. It is a company that is making a direct impact on yield, and has partnered with TSMC to actually participate in customers’ gains.

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