But with the topic of 300mmPrime taking center stage during SEMICON West last week and Applied planning to be a major force within that emerging initiative, the Synopsys founder put his foot in it during SEMI's press conference the day before the show!

That gaffe concerned a few of us that attended because he admitted on a panel that he hadn't heard of 300mmPrime until that press conference!

That's a little worrying given that Synopsys claims to be the real deal when it comes to integrating EDA with DFM.

Maybe Splinter heard about the revelation last Monday and took pity on de Geus and thought it best to bring him in to learn more about the production improvement programs getting underway!

What with the constant criticisms thrown on the EDA community from leading-edge chip manufacturers about lagging in the required design tools, a lack of awareness of further DFM requirements is the last thing we need!