From industry leading acquisitions to new 2nm platforms, July was full of major semiconductor announcements across design, verification, packaging and compute. Whether you’re tracking industry acquisitions, design tool updates or emerging materials, this monthly roundup highlights the key developments – all in one place.
Top Semiconductor Stories from July 2025
Synopsys Finalizes Ansys Acquisition
Synopsys officially completed its $35 billion acquisition of Ansys, aimed at supercharging simulation-enhanced chip design for AI and high-performance computing. This marks one of the most strategic acquisitions of the year.
SiPearl Tapes Out Europe’s First HPC Chip
SiPearl has completed the tape-out of Rhea1, Europe’s first exascale processor. The chip uses Arm Neoverse cores and targets EuroHPC systems.
GlobalFoundries to Acquire MIPS
GlobalFoundries announced plans to acquire MIPS to boost its AI SoC strategy with more IP control — signaling more vertical integration in global chip design.
Siemens Expands Calibre with SK KeyFoundry & UMC
New partnerships with SK KeyFoundry and UMC bring Siemens’ Calibre and mPower tech to more foundries – particularly for automotive-grade power semiconductors.
Volvo Expands Autonomous Platform Strategy
Volvo Group is building a unified compute platform for cars, not just trucks – an L4+ architecture that will rely heavily on custom chips.
Arm Opens New Facility in Galway, Ireland
IDA Ireland and others report that Arm has launched a new R&D center focused on semiconductor design in the west of Ireland – an important milestone on the Silicon Island roadmap.
NVIDIA to Bring CUDA to RISC-V
NVIDIA shares plans to bring CUDA platform support to RISC‑V, enabling the open-source architecture to act as a host CPU for CUDA-based AI systems.
Siemens & Arm Expand Partnership
Siemens has expanded its collaboration with Arm to include Veloce Strato CS and Veloce proFPGA CS for Neoverse platforms. This supports early software development and system validation for hyperscale, HPC and infrastructure SoCs.
Renesas Launches New MCUs for Single-Motor Applications
Renesas introduced RA2T1 – a new group group based on the Arm Cortex M23 processor optimized for motor control systems. Designed for single-motor control, the MCUs target home appliances, power tools and industrial equipment
JEDEC Releases New LPDDR6 Standard
JEDEC published the LPDDR6 memory standard, targeting higher performance for AI and mobile devices. LPDDR6 promises improved bandwidth and efficiency over LPDDR5X, offering increased support for memory-intensive workloads across next-gen smartphones and edge AI devices.
Tenstorrent Acquires Blue Cheetah
Tenstorrent acquired Blue Cheetah to strengthen its chiplet strategy and announced plans to open-source its die-to-die interconnect specification. This move aims to accelerate industry adoption of modular chiplet-based SoC designs.
CDimension Launches Ultra-Thin 2D Semiconductor Materials
Shanghai-based CDimension announced new 2D semiconductor materials that are atomically thin and highly tunable, positioning them for next-gen devices in quantum computing, flexible electronics and nanoscale sensors.
Rapidus Starts 2nm GAA Prototyping in Japan
Rapidus has begun prototyping 2nm gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, with plans to enter volume production by 2027 – meaning they will be one of the first companies to commercialize fully single-wafer processing.
Alchip Introduces 2nm Design Platform
Alchip has unveiled a comprehensive 2nm ASIC design platform, including IP, reference flows and advanced packaging support. Targeting AI, HPC and datacenter SoCs, the platform has demonstrated positive progress as the test chip achieved first-pass silicon success.
Cadence Releases Virtuoso Studio IC23.1 ISR15
The latest update to Cadence’s Virtuoso Studio – IC23.1 ISR15 – adds enhancements in layout automation, parasitic-aware design and 3D-IC integration. The tool continues to push analog/custom design productivity at advanced nodes.
Resources & Papers
- SemiEngineering: Physics-Based ASICs
- Manufacturer’s Monthly: The importance of verification and validation of AI in safety critical systems
- SemiEngineering: AI In Chip Design: Tight Control Required
- IEEE Xplore: Tag-Based Memory Verification System For RISC-V
- ACM Digital Library: System-Level Validation Across Multiple Platforms to build a Robust 2.5D Multi Foundry Chiplet Solution
That wraps up July’s key highlights across the semiconductor industry. From 2nm progress to ecosystem shifts and new design tools, the pace of change continues to accelerate. We’ll be back next month with more updates relevant to ASIC design and verification engineers. In the meantime, keep an eye on the AsicPro blog for regular insights and technical resources.