Carbon Design Systems
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersActon, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Carbon Design Systems firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Carbon Design Systems
- Legal name
- Carbon Design Systems
- Website
- https://carbondesignsystems.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Carbon Design Systems is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Acton
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Carbon Design Systems business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- SOC Designer Plus Software Licenses: Virtual prototype creation software providing enterprise licensing for system-on-chip design and validation tools
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Carbon Design Systems product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Carbon Design Systems sells a system validation solution for SoC designs, built around SOC Designer Plus, a GUI-based virtual prototyping tool that assembles cycle-accurate models so architects, firmware developers, and software engineers can validate hardware/software systems before committing to physical silicon. Carbon Model Studio compiles the underlying models, while Carbon IP Exchange delivers a web portal of partner IP models that plug directly into SOC Designer Plus prototypes.
Product overview
Carbon Design Systems offers a portfolio of interconnected products centered on virtual prototype development and system-level modeling. The core offering includes Carbon Design System as the foundational data modeling platform, paired with SOC Designer Plus for rapid virtual prototype creation and architectural analysis. Carbon Model Studio serves as the model compilation engine producing cycle-accurate models. Carbon Performance Analysis Kits (CPAs) extend the portfolio for performance measurement and analysis. Carbon IP Exchange provides a web-based marketplace for accessing third-party IP models that integrate directly with SOC Designer Plus. The platform supports SystemC models, Verilog/VHDL co-simulation with RTL simulators, and Spirit IP-Xact for model exchange.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- SOC Designer Plus: Virtual prototype creation tool with easy-to-use GUI for rapidly assembling models
- Carbon Model Studio
- Carbon IP Exchange
- Carbon Performance Analysis Kits (CPAs)
Products and services
- SOC Designer Plus GUI-based virtual prototype development tool that enables rapid assembly of models for SoC designs, supporting platform debug, architectural analysis, and hardware/software system validation. Targeted at chip architects, firmware developers, and software engineers who need to validate SoCs before physical silicon is available.
- Carbon Model Studio Model compilation tool that produces high-performance cycle-accurate and implementation-accurate models consumed by SOC Designer Plus to build virtual prototypes of SoC designs.
- Carbon IP Exchange Web portal providing access to IP partner models for virtual system prototypes, allowing users to configure, build, download, and manage models and drop them directly into SOC Designer Plus.
- Carbon Performance Analysis Kits (CPAs) Performance analysis kits combining hardware sensors and software for data collection and analysis, used to measure, analyze, and improve vehicle performance in the automotive industry.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% client satisfaction rate
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Carbon Design Systems
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Carbon Design Systems technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Carbon Design Systems partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators6 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Carbon Design Systems competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Aldec: Aldec provides simulation and hardware-assisted verification tools used in FPGA and ASIC flows, partially overlapping with Carbon's virtual prototyping offerings for SoC validation.
- Breker Verification Systems: Breker focuses on system-level testbench automation for SoC verification — an adjacent capability to Carbon's architectural analysis and platform debug features.
- Bluespec: Bluespec provides hardware design and verification tooling (including RISC-V flows) that intersect with Carbon's SoC design flow positioning for embedded and silicon teams.
Direct peers
- Cadence Design Systems: Cadence's Protium prototyping and Palladium emulation platforms target the same SoC pre-silicon validation use cases as Carbon, delivered as part of a much broader EDA portfolio.
- Imperas Software: Imperas provides virtual platforms and processor models — particularly for RISC-V — used in pre-silicon software development, overlapping with Carbon's virtual prototyping niche for SoC engineers.
- Synopsys: Synopsys offers Virtualizer, the leading virtual prototyping development kit for SoC designs, directly competing with Carbon's SOC Designer Plus for the same enterprise semiconductor and embedded software customers.
- Siemens EDA (Mentor Graphics): Siemens EDA's Vista virtual platform and Veloce emulation family directly compete with Carbon's virtual prototyping tools for hardware/software co-validation workflows.
Broad incumbents
- Jasper Design Automation: Now part of Cadence, Jasper provides formal verification tools adjacent to Carbon's architectural analysis capabilities, with the distribution and R&D scale of a Tier-1 EDA vendor.
- CoWare: CoWare pioneered the virtual platform category before being acquired by Synopsys in 2010; historically a direct competitor to Carbon and now part of the broader Synopsys portfolio.
Others
- Lauterbach: Lauterbach provides hardware debug and trace tools (JTAG, etc.) that complement Carbon's platform debug interfaces, serving overlapping SoC and embedded engineer audiences without direct product overlap.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Carbon Design Systems social profiles
Digital presenceCarbon Design Systems financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Carbon Design Systems leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Carbon Design Systems funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds9 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Carbon Design Systems M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Carbon Design Systems
What does Carbon Design Systems do?
Carbon Design Systems sells a system validation solution for SoC designs, built around SOC Designer Plus, a GUI-based virtual prototyping tool that assembles cycle-accurate models so architects, firmware developers, and software engineers can validate hardware/software systems before committing to physical silicon. Carbon Model Studio compiles the underlying models, while Carbon IP Exchange delivers a web portal of partner IP models that plug directly into SOC Designer Plus prototypes.
Is Carbon Design Systems a public or private company?
Carbon Design Systems is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Carbon Design Systems founded?
Carbon Design Systems was founded in 2002. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Carbon Design Systems based?
Carbon Design Systems is headquartered in Acton, United States, in the North America region.
How does Carbon Design Systems make money?
One revenue line is on record: SOC Designer Plus Software Licenses.
Who are Carbon Design Systems's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Aldec, Breker Verification Systems and Bluespec. Direct peers are Cadence Design Systems, Imperas Software, Synopsys and Siemens EDA (Mentor Graphics). Broad incumbents are Jasper Design Automation and CoWare. Lauterbach is listed as an others.
Does Carbon Design Systems have an API?
No public API is recorded for Carbon Design Systems.