Cadence Design Systems introduced a cutting-edge supercomputer on Wednesday, built around Nvidia’s high-performance chips, aimed at turbocharging its suite of software tools that power everything from chip design to aerospace engineering and drug discovery.
Traditionally known for supplying software to tech giants like Apple (AAPL.O) for chip development, Cadence has steadily branched out in recent years. Its platform now supports a diverse clientele, including Boom, a startup engineering supersonic aircraft, and Treeline Biosciences, which uses molecular simulations to uncover new drug possibilities.
Originally crafted for CPU-based systems in the heyday of personal computers, Cadence’s software has undergone a major overhaul to harness the capabilities of Nvidia’s latest "Blackwell" GPUs. The centerpiece of this evolution is the Millennium M2000 supercomputer, which packs around 32 of Nvidia’s most advanced chips. Priced at roughly $1.5 million—depending on customer specifications—this machine succeeds an earlier model that supported a narrower range of Cadence’s applications.
Michael Jackson, corporate vice president and general manager of Cadence’s system design and analysis division, highlighted a collaboration with Boeing (BA.N) where the new supercomputer was used to analyze airflow turbulence around a 777 aircraft component. What previously demanded eight days on a traditional CPU system was compressed into less than 24 hours with the M2000—freeing engineers to either finish projects faster or refine designs more extensively.
“There’s an unrelenting demand for faster simulation,” Jackson told Reuters in a May 6 interview.
On the biotech front, Jeff Grandy, vice president of Cadence molecular sciences, noted that simulations for potential drug molecules—which once took two days—can now be completed in just four minutes. This dramatic reduction means researchers can now experiment and iterate on molecular designs in near real-time.
“In the past, you’d have to wait days for results before making your next move,” Grandy explained in the same interview. “Now, it’s an interactive process—you can tweak designs and see the outcomes almost immediately.”