Keynote Speakers

Keynote #1: From Design Automation to Autonomous Design: AI Super Agents for Chip Development

Ziyad Hanna
Corporate VP, System Design Verification and AI Technologies at Cadence Design Systems

Abstract: AI is already improving productivity in many tasks in chip design and verification, but today’s solutions remain largely assistant-driven and task-specific. The next step is to evolve toward agentic AI systems that can plan, execute, evaluate, and refine complex design workflows across multiple tools and engineering domains. This talk examines how Super Agents, coordinated teams of specialized AI agents, can accelerate chip design and validation through iterative, closed-loop execution tightly integrated with EDA tools, engines, and design data. It will discuss potential architectures, including agent orchestration, multi-agent collaboration, EDA harnesses, and human-in-the-loop control, as well as the practical challenges of reliability, verification, security, data governance, and deployment at scale.

Biography: Ziyad Hanna is a distinguished global technology executive, computer scientist, and AI leader, with more than 35 years of experience shaping the fields of electronic design automation and artificial intelligence. As a Corporate Vice President of Cadence Design Systems, and R&D General Manager, leading the company’s technology innovations and global business with focus on software and AI technologies for the worldwide chip design industry. In 2025, Ziyad Hanna was appointed to lead Cadence’s global artificial intelligence strategy, a role that underscores the company’s deep trust in his visionary leadership and technical excellence. As the strategic head of AI at Cadence, Ziyad is responsible for shaping and executing the company’s direction in artificial intelligence—driving innovation across global teams, identifying transformative opportunities, and steering technological advancement in one of the most critical areas of the future chip design ecosystem. His leadership in this role is pivotal to Cadence’s evolution as a front-runner in AI-driven design and verification technologies. Prior to Cadence, he was the Sr. Vice President, Chief Scientist and General Manager of Jasper the first startup company that made its way to exit and managed by an Arab Israeli General Manager. While being a US permanent resident and leading the company from the Silicon Valley, Jasper earned the Red Herring Top 100 North America award in 2013 and was acquired by Cadence in June 2014. Prior to joining Jasper, Ziyad was Senior Principal Engineer and Group Leader in the Design and Technology division at Intel Haifa. He played a key role in developing computer aided design (CAD) systems that were deployed across nearly all Intel microprocessor designs since the early 1990s. A senior IEEE member and a lecturer in the EECS department at the Technion Israel, Ziyad is very active in the Hi-Tech field and has participated in many international conferences and workshops. He has published more than 30 articles, earned 25 patents, and gave hundreds of talks, a frequent keynote speaker, and respected advisor in various fields in computer science and chaired conferences including the annual Jasper User Group (JUG) for 15 consecutive years. Ziyad received numerous awards including Intel’s highest achievement award twice, and Cadence move-the-needle award. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Tel Aviv University, and PhD in computer science from Oxford University in England, where he serves as a visiting professor in the computer science department. Ziyad is very active to foster the Hi-Tech in the Arab community. Ziyad was ranked number 39 in The-Marker’s 100 most influential people on the Israel life for year 2019, top the list in the Hi-Tech category. Also, received honorable doctorate from Rubin collage, and his name was included in the list of the most influential people in Hi-Tech by both The-Marker and People and Computers magazines.