Recently, Empire Elec’s strategic layout in quantum computing has drawn wide attention across China’s domestic EDA sector. On May 8, quantum computing firm Boson Quantum announced at its new product launch event that it has signed strategic cooperation agreements with Empire Elec and other enterprises to jointly expand industrial applications of quantum computing in EDA, new energy, intelligent computing and other fields. Following the partnership announcement, Empire Elec’s share price and market sentiment maintained a steady upward momentum.
Since the end of last year, Empire Elec has repeatedly responded to investor inquiries on interactive platforms, emphasizing the indispensability of EDA tools in quantum chip design, and stating that it will keep close track of industry trends to seize emerging market opportunities.
As the number of quantum bits continues to grow, traditional manual and trial-and-error design methods are no longer viable, calling for standardized and engineered design methodologies. Quantum EDA (Q-EDA) serves as the core software framework supporting the modeling, simulation, optimization and verification of quantum hardware, which can drastically improve the design efficiency and precision of various quantum chips including superconducting and spin qubit chips.
Meanwhile, quantum computing can in turn empower conventional EDA development. Traditional chip design involves numerous highly complex NP-hard optimization problems such as placement and routing as well as new material exploration, which are difficult to resolve efficiently with classic computing power. Leveraging powerful parallel computing capabilities, quantum computing can accelerate solutions to such optimization challenges within conventional EDA workflows, thereby boosting the design efficiency and overall performance of mainstream integrated circuits.
In the traditional integrated circuit industry, China has long been constrained by overseas monopoly and technical blockades in high-end EDA tools due to a late start in development. As a strategic frontier fiercely competed for worldwide, independent research and development of quantum computing technologies is vital to break technical barriers and seize early industrial advantages.
Industry analysts point out that vigorous development of domestic quantum EDA can not only provide secure and controllable core design tools for domestic quantum technology enterprises and realize full-chain independent development covering quantum chip design and manufacturing, but also help China secure a leading position in the upcoming quantum technology era through forward-looking deployment, fundamentally avoiding reliance on foreign core technologies in the new round of technological revolution. To repeat past setbacks encountered in conventional chip EDA development, independent development of Q-EDA is regarded as a core breakthrough to eliminate technical restrictions and gain industrial initiative.
Domestic quantum technology enterprises have long prioritized independent Q-EDA development as a core corporate strategy. For instance, Origin Quantum launched Kunyuan, China’s first industrial-grade quantum chip design software based on Q-EDA back in 2022, and has kept upgrading the product to enable automated design of large-scale quantum chips. Origin Quantum also unveiled its self-developed EDA software research and development plan to complete the key link in full-stack quantum computing layout. Such practical moves fully prove the irreplaceable strategic value of domestic EDA solutions within the quantum computing industrial chain.
From an industry perspective, amid the global industrialization drive of quantum technology, Empire Elec’s in-depth layout in quantum computing is poised to evolve into a core driving force supporting the development of domestic quantum chip design.
It is worth noting that the China Semiconductor Industry Summit, known as the weathervane of China’s semiconductor industry, will be held in Shanghai from May 27 to May 29. Centering on cutting-edge sectors including AI empowerment, edge AI, advanced packaging, EDA & IP, memory and industrial investment, the summit will gather numerous listed enterprises to showcase core technological strengths and integrate global resources to build a brand-new industrial ecosystem.
As one of the core summit forums, the EDA, IP and Industrial Software Forum is scheduled to take place on May 29. Yu Han, Senior Director of Empire Elec, will deliver a keynote speech titled Beyond Moore’s Law: Full-process Domestic Q-EDA System Empowering Next-generation Quantum Computing, sharing the company’s technical layout and forward-looking insights in the quantum computing sector.
(Reprinted from https://news.eccn.com/）