A Bengaluru-based company called Maieutic Semiconductor is utilizing artificial intelligence to streamline the intricate process of designing analog chips by creating a digital assistant for engineers, with the goal of speeding up the creation of hardware that supports much of today's AI technology.

The startup has secured $6 million in seed funding from investors including Japan's University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) and Indian venture capital companies Endiya Partners and Exfinity Venture Partners.

Gireesh Rajendran, the company's chief executive who formerly held positions at Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, stated that Maieutic plans to launch early customer testing of its generative AI-driven virtual assistant by March, followed by a wider commercial launch.

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Rajendran noted that the initial focus will be on international chipmakers operating design centers in India and semiconductor firms in Japan. The company is currently engaged in discussions with multiple prospective customers who have expressed interest in implementing the technology.

Although the design process for digital chips, which handle data processing and logic operations in binary format, has been mostly automated for many years using electronic design automation (EDA) software, the design of analog and mixed-signal chips continues to rely heavily on manual processes. American companies like Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems and Siemens EDA control the digital EDA software sector, allowing engineers to expand and repurpose designs for processors and memory components.

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Conversely, analog and mixed-signal chips, which handle continuous signals such as audio, light and temperature data, need skilled engineers to carefully adjust transistor-level performance to guarantee that circuits process real-world information with precision.

As stated by Ashish Lachhwani, who serves as Maieutic's chief business officer, the company's AI copilot functions as a smart assistant that works alongside current design software. The system has been developed using publicly accessible information, such as patent documents and academic research, enabling it to understand technical specifications, circuit schematics, and simulation results while communicating with engineers through everyday language.

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The platform is capable of suggesting different architectural approaches, evaluating compromises between energy efficiency and system performance, and conducting automated design reviews to identify potential conflicts. Maieutic projects that their AI solution has the potential to decrease certain aspects of the analog design process by 50 to 66 percent. Additionally, users will have the option to operate the system on their own infrastructure to maintain data security.