Predictions: The bold prediction for EDA

1/24/2012 11:24 AM EST

Mike Gianfagna Vice President of Marketing Atrenta Inc.

I see consolidation as a distinct possibility. With that in mind, here are my "predictions" for what the EDA landscape will look like in December 2012:

TSMC will buy Synopsys and spin out everything above logic synthesis, forming New Company No. 1.

Not to be left out, GlobalFoundries will acquire Cadence and do the same thing. Now we have New Company No. 2.

All this M&A activity will attract a group of "EDA insider" private investors to pool resources. They will collectively decide that it's time to do an EDA roll-up. That roll-up will include select parts of Mentor Graphics, as well as a few other small EDA firms. New Company No. 3 is born.

As part of that transaction, the remaining foundries will bid against each other to acquire the Calibre business from our investment group, and that one will be fun to watch. Who will win? It may not be TSMC or GlobalFoundries.

So who are the Big Three in EDA when all this settles down? It's a different landscape for sure. Who knows what the names will be, but EDA will be different and hopefully better. Better in the sense that the focus will now be on higher levels of abstraction, an area that could find new customers and new budget. I'll be the first to admit that these predictions are a bit "out there."  But I'd like to hear your views on the subject.