Claire Sung, Hsinchu; Rodney Chan, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 16 August 2006] Mentor Graphics, a leader in electronic design automation (EDA), yesterday announced a plan to set up an R&D center in Taiwan, as the company marked its 20th anniversary of its operations in Taiwan. Johnny Chang, Mentor's marketing director for the Pacific Rim, said the company is setting up the R&D center because of Taiwan's importance in the Asia-Pacific region and its proximity to China. Chang revealed that Mentors' sales from the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of 2006 grew about 30% on year, much more than the average 13-15% growth Mentor saw in its worldwide sales. This is th third year in a row that Mentor has seen strong on-year growth (about 30% each year) in the first half of the year in the Asia-Pacific region, he added. According to sources with the company, the Taipei-based R&D center will focus on mixed-signal (analog/digital) system-on-chip (SoC) EDA. Mentor already has another R&D team based in Hsinchu focusing on simulation software for layered circuits and mixed signal circuits, the sources said, adding that the Hsinchu team comes from EverCad, which Mentor acquired earlier this year. Recent rumors have spread that Mentor may seek to acquire Taiwan-based EDA tool supplier Springsoft, which is known for its debug solutions. The sources said Mentor would not rule out a merger with a "good target," but Springsoft denied that there had been merger talks between the two companies. Walden Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor, speaking at the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the company's presence in Taiwan, said Mentor's migration to a 65nm process will enhance Taiwan semiconductor players design capabilities, and reduce their design costs. Rhines pointed out that back in 1994, IC designers were concerned with product performance and product life cycles. But with advanced processes increasing the complexity of designing, designers are now more concerned with cost-cutting, he added. --

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