Benefits
The tools developed by NIST have been shown to reduce the time required for software verification and testing, while improving test coverage. For example, a study of their application to industrial control software [6] showed 3X greater fault detection in 1/4 of the time used for conventional test methods, or roughly 12X improvement in efficiency. Similar results have been shown in other studies.
Comparable improvements in semiconductor design verification could result in significant reductions in engineering time and thus cost. In addition to the cost for FPGA and IC/ASIC verification engineers, design engineers also spend 40% - 50% of their time on verification [1], increasing engineering headcount per project. Improving the efficiency of semiconductor functional verification will allow precious engineering hours to be spent on a larger number of projects.
In addition to cost reduction for individual designs, this improvement could improve industry access to scarce semiconductor engineering and technical talent. It is projected that the US semiconductor industry will face a shortfall of 70,000 to 90,000 workers over the next six years [7]. Demand for IC/ASIC design engineers increased at a 2.7% CAGR from 2007 to 2022, and demand for verification engineers increased even faster, at 6.2% per year from 2007 to 2022 [1]. This increase in demand is expected to continue.
[5] https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/automated-combinatorial-testing-for-software/combinatorial-methods-in-testing/case-studies-and-examples
[6] Li, X., Gao, R., Wong, W.E., Yang, C. and Li, D., Applying combinatorial testing in industrial settings. 2016 IEEE Intl Conf on Software Quality, Reliability and Security (QRS) (pp. 53-60)
[7] https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology/articles/global-semiconductor-talent-shortage.html?id=us:2ps:3gl:semital23:awa:tmt:021523:chip%20supply%20shortage:b:c:kwd-1240347574454
