Empyrean Technology, a Chinese developer of electronic design automation software, has integrated AI agents into its chip design workflow. According to chairman Liu Weiping, the use of these agents for design optimization and simulation has reduced the time required for chip layout from four weeks to one week.
The company is shifting its business model from traditional per-seat licensing to a consumption-based approach. Clients will now pay for the use of AI tokens during the chip development process. Empyrean is also building a platform to enable its AI agents to collaborate with those of its partners.
The Chinese government is supporting these initiatives as part of a broader strategy to promote domestic EDA software globally by 2030. Meanwhile, international competitors are also advancing; for instance, the US-based firm Cadence has introduced its ChipStack AI Super Agent for data flow verification in chip projects.
