Part 10: The 2014 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study

IC/ASIC Language and Library Adoption Trends

This blog is a continuation of a series of blogs related to the 2014 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study (click here).  In my previous blog, I presented our study findings on various verification technology adoption trends. In this blog, I focus on language and library adoption trends.

As previously noted, the reason some of the results sum to more than 100 percent is that some projects are using multiple languages; thus, individual projects can have multiple answers.

Fig. 10-1 shows the adoption trends for languages used to create RTL designs. Essentially, the adoption rates for all languages used to create RTL designs is projected to be either declining or flat over the next year, with the exception of SystemVerilog.

Fig. 10-1. IC/ASIC Languages Used for RTL Design

Fig. 10-2 shows the adoption trends for languages used to create IC/ASIC testbenches. Essentially, the adoption rates for all languages used to create testbenches are either declining or flat, with the exception of SystemVerilog. Nonetheless, the data suggest that SystemVerilog adoption is starting to saturate or level off at about 75 percent.

Fig. 10-2. IC/ASIC Languages Used for Verification (Testbenches)

IC/ASIC Testbench Methodologies

Fig. 10-3 shows the adoption trends for various IC/ASIC testbench methodologies built using class libraries.

Fig. 10-3. IC/ASIC Methodologies and Testbench Base-Class Libraries

Here we see a decline in adoption of all methodologies and class libraries with the exception of Accellera’s UVM, whose adoption increased by 56 percent between 2012 and 2014. Furthermore, our study revealed that UVM is projected to grow an additional 13 percent within the next year.

Assertion Languages

Fig. 10-4 shows the IC/ASIC industry adoption trends for various assertion languages, and again, SystemVerilog Assertions seems to have saturated or leveled off.

Fig. 10-4. IC/ASIC Assertion Language Adoption

In my next blog, I plan to present the IC/ASIC design and verification power trends.

Quick links to the 2014 Wilson Research Group Study results

• Prologue: The 2014 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study
• Understanding and Minimizing Study Bias
• Part 1 – FPGA Design Trends
• Part 2 – FPGA Verification Effort Trends
• Part 3 – FPGA Verification Effort Trends (Continued)
• Part 4 – FPGA Verification Effectiveness Trends
• Part 5 – FPGA Verification Technology Adoption Trends
• Part 6 – FPGA Verification Language and Library Adoption Trends
• Part 7 – IC/ASIC Design Trends
• Part 8 – IC/ASIC Resource Trends
• Part 9 – IC/ASIC Verification Technology Adoption Trends
• Part 10 – IC/ASIC Language and Library Adoption Trends
• Part 11 – IC/ASIC Power Management Trends
• Part 12 – IC/ASIC Verification Results Trends
• Conclusion: The 2014 Wilson Research Group Functional Verification Study