AI agents accelerate China's semiconductor design as Empyrean Technology cuts chip layout time

Artificial intelligence agents are increasingly taking the wheel in designing China’s next-generation semiconductors, as Beijing and domestic technology firms accelerate efforts to integrate AI into chip design software to bolster national self-sufficiency.

Empyrean Technology, China’s top maker of electronic design automation (EDA) tools, has been accelerating the chip design process by using AI-optimised algorithms and agentic tools, according to company chairman Liu Weiping.

By applying an AI agent to its simulation and layout tools, the company slashed the time needed for a circuit layout task from four weeks to just one week, Liu said.

Agentic AI has brought a “paradigm shift” to chip design, moving away from “humans operating tools” to “humans commanding agents”, Liu said at the 2026 International Integrated Circuit Innovation Expo in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

This shift would also apply to the business model of the industry, which was changing from the traditional software licence model towards a new model based on token consumption with agentic EDA, Liu said.

Empyrean was developing an agentic EDA platform, which the company considered core to its future strategy, that would allow its own agentic tools to work with its partners’ agents, according to Liu.