The event began on Sunday, March 15, with a supporting program that included guided tours and a reception at the Arithmeum. From March 16 to 18, the main academic conference took place at the University Club in Bonn, with over 100 participants from academia and industry in attendance. Professor Stephan Held of the Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics organized the conference with the help of a team of six international researchers.
The ISPD is widely recognized as one of the leading international conferences on electronic design automation (EDA). Here, researchers from universities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia convene with experts from the semiconductor industry to discuss new methods and algorithms for designing modern microchips. Approximately half of the participants are from industry, and the event attracted some of the biggest names in the semiconductor industry to Bonn. Companies such as NVIDIA, Apple, AMD, IBM, Infineon, and Huawei, as well as design software leaders Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens, sent top executives from their development departments.
Advances in design automation are essential for creating more powerful and energy-efficient electronic systems, including smartphones, data centers, and artificial intelligence applications. The conference featured in-depth discussions on the potential future role of AI in chip design. Two keynote speeches, one by Leon Stok (IBM) and one by Prith Banerjee (Ansys/Synopsys), as well as a panel discussion focused on the use of agent-based AI in design automation. While it is widely accepted that agent-based AI will simplify highly complex programs, it remains uncertain whether it can significantly improve combinatorial optimization algorithms.
In addition to AI, the discussion covered many of the current challenges in chip design, including issues related to 3D integration, photonic circuits, neuromorphic computing, and quantum chips. During his Monday afternoon keynote address, Dr. Thomas Stammler, CTO of Carl Zeiss SMT, emphasized that manufacturing modern computer chips using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography requires high-precision mirrors from Germany. A particular highlight of the conference was the presentation of the ISPD Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Jens Lienig of TU Dresden on Tuesday. He is the author of numerous research papers, particularly in the field of electromigration, as well as several textbooks on design automation.
Hosting the conference is an international recognition of the work of the Research Institute for Discrete Mathematics at the University of Bonn. The institute is renowned for its contributions to optimization methods and algorithms in chip design. Over the decades, it has become one of the world's leading centers for combinatorial optimization, discrete mathematics, and their applications in chip design and route planning. It is part of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics Cluster of Excellence.
Researchers in Bonn have been working closely with IBM for almost 40 years. Originally initiated by Bernhard Korte, this collaboration is now being continued and expanded by the institute’s professors, Jens Vygen, Stefan Hougardy and Stephan Held, together with a large team. The goal is to develop and apply mathematical methods for practical applications in microelectronics — a field of research of central importance to the global semiconductor industry. As part of this collaboration, a workshop on improving efficiency in processor design was held on March 19 and 20.
