Siemens has introduced the Questa One Agentic Toolkit, an addition to its Questa One smart verification software suite, aimed at enhancing the speed and efficiency of integrated circuit (IC) design and verification processes.

The toolkit incorporates agentic AI to address increased demands caused by rising IC complexity, such as 3D integration, chiplet-based designs, and software-defined architectures.

Siemens stated that the verification productivity gap continues to widen as these new architectures increase the scale and intricacy of development.

The Questa One Agentic Toolkit operates by transforming traditional interactions between separate tools into connected, domain-scoped, multi-step workflows managed by agentic AI systems. These systems are autonomous within boundaries set by the user and are capable of reasoning, planning and carrying out advanced tasks.

User oversight remains configurable at key decision points, enabling engineers to retain control from within their established environments.

According to Siemens, the toolkit is designed to operate seamlessly with Fuse, the company’s own electronic design automation (EDA) AI framework. It delivers enhanced performance when used within Fuse but maintains a framework-agnostic architecture to integrate with other agentic platforms if required.

Siemens stated that the Questa One agentic workflows are designed to adapt to both existing and emerging frameworks, using standardised interfaces to ensure consistent operation across different platforms.

A key differentiator outlined by Siemens is the combination of its verification tool expertise with deep AI integration. The company produces both the Questa One tools and model context protocols (MCPs), exposing them for use in agentic frameworks.

Workflows employ technologies such as NVIDIA Llama Nemotron and NVIDIA NIM for real-time awareness of verification state and contextual intelligence spanning designs, testbenches, plans and specifications. The company indicated that this approach enables features such as autonomous goal decomposition, adaptive strategies across multiple runs, and the development of ongoing expertise.

Siemens Digital Industries Software senior vice president and digital verification technologies general manager Abhi Kolpekwar said: “Questa One sets a new standard for smart verification and the Questa One Agentic Toolkit builds on those connected and data-driven principles with agentic AI workflows that empower our customers to achieve trusted design and verification closure with AI acceleration – while maintaining the human expertise and judgment that builds quality and trust.

“We own the engines and we understand verification at the deepest level. It isn’t an afterthought or a wrapper; it’s the electronic design automation (EDA) industry’s most comprehensive verification solution enhanced with intelligent agentic AI workflows that work the way our customers expect and delivers the results they are demanding.”

Alongside engine-level intelligence, the toolkit supports major AI coding applications including GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline and Siemens’ own Fuse platform. It is compatible with both command-line interfaces and integrated development environments such as Visual Studio Code.

Siemens noted that while it is optimised for use within Fuse, it can also be deployed in other environments without requiring users to change established development processes.

Data-driven connectivity is a further element of Siemens’ approach. The agentic workflows can leverage a broader verification ecosystem incorporating tools like Questa One Verification IQ, Tessent software for design-for-test functionality, and Veloce CS for hardware-assisted validation and accelerated simulation.

The initial release of the Questa One Agentic Toolkit includes several intelligent agents that operate across different phases of the design and verification process. The RTL Code Agent generates synthesizable RTL code from natural language descriptions, checks for rule violations and suggests fixes in accordance with industry standards.

The Lint Agent analyses existing RTL code for errors or style issues before offering automated corrections or waivers where appropriate. The CDC Agent focuses on clock domain crossing analysis, adjusting configurations based on outcomes and enabling automated fixes or waivers following engineer review.

The Verification Planning Agent interprets design specifications to generate comprehensive plans which engineers review at each step; it structures sections, drafts detailed feature descriptions, and develops scenario-based checking strategies autonomously.

The Debug Agent correlates multiple data sources such as waveforms, assertions, coverage data and log files to identify anomalous signal behaviour or likely failure mechanisms before generating targeted scenarios for debugging.

All intelligent agents leverage MCPs to interface directly with various Questa One modules, including Verification IQ, SFV and Sim, and utilise prompt libraries developed by domain experts to enhance effectiveness in context-specific tasks.

Last month, Siemens acquired Canopus AI, a provider of AI-driven metrology solutions for the semiconductor industry, in a move to expand its EDA capabilities.