Silicon is starting to design silicon — how AI is being used in chipmaking, from EDA tools to OpenAI's Jalapeño and beyond
‘This is how AI should be used’ — OpenAI head of hardware breaks down the AI-assisted design of its Jalapeño ASIC
That creates a provenance problem for chips, because human engineers generally document and can explain where their ideas came from and which IP was licensed. AI might not have that same traceability. Existing tools can identify close copies, Forte said, but designs can be rewritten or run through synthesis tools that transform their implementation while leaving the underlying function intact.
Forte suggests IP owners could eventually deposit encrypted versions of their designs into a shared repository, allowing trusted agents to check whether newly generated hardware overlaps with existing IP without exposing the originals. He’s less convinced by watermarking, which he argues could be removed or forged. International standards could help somewhat: IEEE 1735 defines methods for encrypting electronic-design IP and managing the rights attached to it. But Forte argues standards like it may now need to go further, defining what AI agents can access, retain, and learn from while operating inside electronic design automation tools.
That all might suggest there’s a free-for-all when it comes to AI designing new chips, and potentially ripping off – advertently or not – other designs. But that’s not the case, for a simple reason. The semiconductor industry is unusually cautious about new design techniques because software can be patched, whereas fabricated silicon can’t. “Once you ship the chip, you ship the chip, and you can't change the transistors,” said Simon Moore, professor of computer engineering at the University of Cambridge, said in an interview with Tom’s Hardware Premium .
Moore estimates verification now accounts for more than half of the effort involved in getting many chips out of the door, while established verification tools can tell engineers whether an AI-generated test actually improves coverage. Getting that AI to conduct tests, probe possible failure points, and check results at scale is “a bit of a no-brainer," said Moore. However, allowing AI to make architectural decisions, which are much harder to undo, is where most manufacturers are drawing the line.
That same caution explains why licensed IP may survive the onslaught of AI-generated content, even if the tech is capable of generating technically similar blocks. Buying a block from Arm, Synopsys, or another established vendor comes with the history of the companies, and the assurance that it’s gone through the relevant verification and standards compliance checks.
So could AI reduce reliance on licensed IP? “For routine building blocks, probably yes,” said Forte. “But a licensed IP block is much more than its design files.”
And if engineers increasingly have to ask not only whether a design works, but where it came from and whether somebody else already owns part of it, provenance may become something semiconductor companies are all the more willing to pay for. “I'd treat an AI designer like a brilliant new hire,” said Forte. “Fast and talented, but everything it produces gets checked.”
Chris Stokel-Walker Freelance Contributor Chris Stokel-Walker is a Tom's Hardware contributor who focuses on the tech sector and its impact on our daily lives— online and offline. He is the author of How AI Ate the World, published in 2024, as well as TikTok Boom, YouTubers, and The History of the Internet in Byte-Sized Chunks.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/ais-chipmaking-frontier-may-face-patent-infringement-hurdles-as-autonomous-tools-take-over-ai-can-spread-a-copied-design-or-infringed-patent-across-thousands-of-chips-before-anyone-notices-says-expert#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/my-account
- Former EVGA employee recounts company’s degrading relationship with Nvidia before 2022 blow-up
- Nvidia launches Open Agent Safety Platform to physically restrain rogue AI agents
- Meta's Muse AI agent accused of ignoring user permissions and accessing forbidden personal user data
- Nvidia launches Open Agent Safety Platform to physically restrain rogue AI agents
- Firm rents four Nvidia H200s to test '80x cheaper' DeepSeek claim
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.