Synopsys Inc has set up a $20m venture capital fund to stimulate the system-on-a-chip market, and says it has set aside $20m more for follow-up funding. The fund plans to invest in four areas: silicon intellectual property, design infrastructure for IP utilization, electronic design automation tools and consulting. Early recipients of the fund include Synchronicity Inc, which produces web-based groupware for semiconductor design and project management, and The Silicon Group, an IC circuit design software house. Previous Synopsys investments include Artisan Components Inc, Nvidia Corp, Gambit Automated Design Inc and Cooper & Chyan Technology, which merged with Cadence Design Systems Inc in 1997.
