The AI design world in 2026: What you need to know

We live in an AI era, but behind the buzzword lies an intricate world of hardware and software building blocks. Like every other design, AI systems span multiple dimensions, ranging from processors and memory devices to interface design and EDA tools. So, EDN is publishing a special section that aims to untangle the AI labyrinth and thus provide engineers and engineering managers greater clarity from a design standpoint.

For instance, while AI is driving demand for advanced memory solutions, memory technology is taking a generational leap by resolving formidable engineering challenges. An article will examine the latest breakthroughs in memory technology and how they are shaping the rapidly evolving AI landscape. It will also provide a sneak peek at memory bottlenecks in generative AI, as well as thermal management and energy-efficiency constraints.

Figure 1 HBM offers higher bandwidth and better power efficiency in a similar DRAM footprint. Source: Rambus

Another article hits the “memory wall” currently haunting hyperscalers. What is it, and how can data center companies confront such memory bottlenecks? The article explains the role of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in addressing this phenomenon and offers a peek into future memory needs.

Interconnect is another key building block in AI silicon. Here, automation is becoming a critical ingredient in generating and refining interconnect topologies to meet system-level performance goals. Then, there are physically aware algorithms that recognize layout constraints and minimize routing congestion. An article will show how the phenomena work while also showing how AI workloads have made existing chip interconnect design impractical.

Figure 2 The AI content in interconnect designs facilitates intelligent automation, which in turn, enables a new class of AI chips. Source: Arteris

No design story is complete without EDA tools, and AI systems are no exception. An EDA industry veteran writes a piece for this special section to show how AI workloads are forcing a paradigm shift in chip development. He zeroes in on the energy efficiency of AI chips and explains how next-generation design tools can help design chips that maximize performance for every watt consumed.

On the applications front, edge AI finally came of age in 2025 and is likely to make further inroads during 2026. A guide on edge AI for industrial applications encompasses the key stages of the design value chain. That includes data collection and preprocessing, hardware-accelerated processing, model training, and model compression. It also explains deployment frameworks and tools, as well as design testing and validation.

Figure 3 Edge AI addresses the high-performance and low-latency requirements of industrial applications by embedding intelligence into devices. Source: Infineon

There will be more. For instance, semiconductor fabs are incorporating AI content to modernize their fabrication processes. Take the case of GlobalFoundries joining hands with Siemens EDA for fab automation; GF is deploying advanced AI-enabled software, sensors, and real-time control systems for fab automation and predictive maintenance.

Finally, and more importantly, this special section will take a closer look at the state of training and inference technologies. Nvidia’s recent acquisition of Groq is a stark reminder of how quickly inference technology is evolving. While training hardware has captured much of the limelight in 2025, 2026 could be a year of inference.

Stay tuned for more!

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