Si2 Board Welcomes New Representatives from Leading EDA Providers

AUSTIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silicon Integration Initiative today announced it has welcomed Michael Jackson, corporate vice president of research and development at Cadence Design Systems, and Jacob Avidan, senior vice president of engineering at Synopsys, to the Si2 board of directors. They replace Aparna Dey, senior product marketing group director, and Dave DeMaria, vice president of corporate operations, respectively.

“This change in board leadership represents a deepening in product and R&D involvement by our EDA partners,” said Pankaj Kukkal, chair of the Si2 board of directors and vice president of EDA, emulation and post-silicon engineering for Qualcomm Technologies. “Aparna continues to represent Cadence in leadership positions at Si2, IEEE and Accellera, and Dave’s strategic planning savvy was fundamental in driving Si2 toward its current focus on system-level interoperability. The addition of Michael and Jacob comes as we approach critical decisions on managing the adoption of system-level power modeling capabilities provided by Si2’s Unified Power Model and its associated reference implementation.”

Jackson plays a strategic role in Cadence’s Intelligent System Design^™ strategy as part of the Custom IC & PCB Group. After joining Cadence in 2019, he directed the product development teams in the Digital & Signoff group before transitioning to his current position. Prior to Cadence, Jackson’s passion for technology led him to a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, then to Motorola, followed by leadership positions at Avant! and Synopsys.

“The shift to system design brings a host of new challenges, many of which will require some degree of collaboration to overcome,” Jackson said. “I believe Si2 has a part to play in ushering in the next era of shared ecosystem efficiency on non-differentiating, common elements that promote interoperability in EDA and the broader semiconductor space. I look forward to helping the board determine the best path forward for Si2 and for the industry as a whole.”

Avidan brings more than 30 years of industry experience in EDA and CAD to his role leading Synopsys signoff products, 3DIC Compiler, DSO.ai and Platform solutions. After earning his electrical engineering and computer sciences degrees from the Technion, Avidan worked at Intel and EPIC Design Technology, as well as co-founded AmmoCore, a highly distributed place-and-route technology developer. From there, he served as general manager and corporate vice president of R&D at Magma Design Automation, which was acquired by Synopsys.

“To boost productivity and enhance power, performance and area of advanced electronic designs, greater integration is essential throughout silicon design flows,” said Avidan. “I have been fortunate to have worked with industry partners and related organizations on the challenges of advancing the leading edge, seeing the fruits of such collaboration firsthand. As Compact Model and OpenAccess Coalition members, we’ve experienced the benefits provided by an R&D joint venture such as Si2. Expanding Si2’s collaboration model into system-level interoperability, particularly into greenfield areas such as system power and 3D, will drive the creation of standards and common infrastructure, accelerating new market adoption and member companies’ returns.”

About Si2

Silicon Integration Initiative is a leading research and development joint venture providing standard interoperability solutions for silicon-to-system implementation. Si2 activities are conducted under the auspices of The National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993. This fundamental law defines R&D joint ventures and offers them significant protection against federal antitrust laws. Si2 has more than 65 members, including semiconductor and fabless manufacturers, foundries and EDA companies.

Primary Initiatives

• OpenAccess Coalition — supports one of the world's most widely used open-reference databases for IC design.
• Compact Model Coalition — funds, develops and optimizes standard compact SPICE models and interfaces.
• Unified Power Model Working Group — enables modeling consistency.
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Special Interest Group — identifies and enables best practices in AI/ML strategies for EDA.
• Technology Interoperability Trajectory Advisory CouNcil (TITAN) — collaborates to drive industry growth in crucial vertical semiconductor markets.

To learn more about Si2 and its mission, please visit www.si2.org.