Magma Moves Aggressively in China
With the EDA industry currently in turmoil, and the “Big 3″ (perhaps) about to become the “Big 2″, Magma Design Automation (NASDAQ:LAVA) is making some aggressive, and smart, moves in China.
The company is opening new offices in Beijing and Shanghai. These facilities will increase the company’s footprint by 140 percent, adding roughly 1700 square meters of office/lab space. Magma plans to use the additional room for continued expansion of its analog and digital IC Design R&D as well as to provide enhanced support to local customers.
It’s interesting to see that Magma is investing in China and that the company understands the value of being close to its customers. This move is a real testament to China’s increasing prowess in IC Design.
“Driven by computing and consumer electronics demand, the Chinese semiconductor market is projected to surpass $28 billion in 2011,” said Rajeev Madhavan, CEO of Magma. “Doing business here requires an understanding of the dynamic characteristics of the Chinese market, the role of the government and the differences in business practices. By growing our operations here, providing leading-edge technology, leveraging the growing pool of talented EDA and IC engineers, increasing our local support and strengthening key relationships, Magma will demonstrate its commitment to facilitating this growth.”
Beyond the commitment of staff and facilities, Magma is initiating a dual path strategy for leveraging local universities to develop engineering talent and to foster research.
“One aspect of the strategy is providing professors with course material, software and dedicated support for training students to use the Magma software. Additionally, Magma will contribute to China’s leading design automation research labs.”
Clearly, Magma appreciates the role that China will play in moving the IC industry forward. With these kinds of initiatives, they seem to be setting themselves to move into the “EDA Big 3″ if Mentor (NASDAQ:MENT) gets gobbled up by Cadence (NASDAQ:CDNS).
Thanks to my time as an engineer at Mentor back when the competitors were Applicon and Calma, and doing my bit during the Daisy, Mentor, Valid era, I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the prospect of Cadence winning in the end. Good luck to everyone involved, and don’t forget to check your six for Magma.
