Siemens strengthens IC market commitment with acquisition of Solido Design Automation

PLANO, Texas -- Nov. 20, 2017 -- Siemens has entered into an agreement to acquire Saskatoon, Canada-based Solido Design Automation Inc., a leading provider of variation-aware design and characterization software to semiconductor companies worldwide. Solido's machine learning-based products are currently used in production at over 40 major companies, enabling them to design, verify, and manufacture more competitive products than ever before. The acquisition of Solido further expands Mentor's analog/mixed-signal (AMS) verification portfolio to help customers address the growing challenges of IC design and verification for automotive, communications, data-center computing, networking, mobile, and IoT applications. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed. Siemens expects to close the transaction in early December 2017.

"With the acquisition of Mentor we made a large commitment to EDA," said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO of Siemens PLM Software. "This new acquisition of Solido strengthens that presence and demonstrates our commitment to serving our customers in the IC industry."

"Solido has become an invaluable partner helping our customers address the impact of variability to improve IC performance, power, area, and yield," said Amit Gupta, founder, president and CEO of Solido Design Automation. "Combining our technology portfolio with Mentor's outstanding IC capabilities and market reach will allow us to provide world-class solutions to the semiconductor industry on an even larger scale. We are also excited to contribute to Siemens' broader digitalization strategy with our applied machine learning for engineering technology portfolio and expertise."

Variation-aware design and characterization has become fundamental in developing modern semiconductor products with the best possible power, performance, and cost. When analog, mixed-signal, memory, and standard cell circuits are designed for today's complex applications, the verification software needs to deliver very high confidence in the simulation results while avoiding time- and resource-intensive analysis methods. Solido's proprietary machine learning-based, variation-aware design and characterization software is proven to deliver the required confidence while significantly reducing time and resources and delivering unrivaled data visualization.

"The combination of Solido and Mentor's leading analog-mixed-signal circuit verification products creates the industry's most powerful portfolio of solutions for addressing today's IC circuit verification challenges," said Ravi Subramanian, vice president and general manager of Mentor's IC verification solutions division. "Solido joins Mentor at an exciting time. Having a power house like Siemens entering EDA is proving to be a true game changer for us."

Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Digital Factory Division, is a leading global provider of software solutions to drive the digital transformation of industry, creating new opportunities for manufacturers to realize innovation. With headquarters in Plano, Texas, and over 140,000 customers worldwide, Siemens PLM Software works with companies of all sizes to transform the way ideas come to life, the way products are realized, and the way products and assets in operation are used and understood. For more information on Siemens PLM Software products and services, visit www.siemens.com/plm.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, the company had around 372,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

Solido Design Automation Inc. is a leading provider of variation-aware design and characterization software to technology companies worldwide, enabling them to design, verify, and manufacture more competitive products than ever before. Solido's products are currently used in production at over 40 major companies. Solido ML Labs makes Solido's machine learning technologies and expertise available to semiconductor companies in developing new software products. The privately held company is venture capital funded and has offices in the USA, Canada, Asia and Europe. Further information is available on the Internet at www.solidodesign.com.