Virtuoso Studio IC26.1 Overview

Virtuoso Studio IC25.1 is the latest production release of Cadence's AI-powered custom design solution, available at Cadence Downloads . The IC25.1 naming convention refers to the 2025, release 1 version of the platform.

Key Features in IC26.1

New ADE Artist License Tier
A new license tier for ADE has been introduced that enables the WiCkeD tool for optimization and statistical analysis, along with enhanced visualization for optimization and statistical data. It also supports multi-process designs, allowing co-simulation of designs from different PDKs .

AI-Powered Layout Automation
The latest AI-powered layout generation provides circuit designers with multiple hand-crafted quality layout prototypes for early parasitic estimation .

Turbo Bus Toolbar
An all-in-one interface consolidating key bus routing tools—Auto Connect, Create/Edit Bus, Tunnel, Chop, and Chamfer—into a streamlined workflow with DRC-aware routing, multilayer support, and high-speed algorithms .

Smart Search in SKILL API Finder
Natural language search lets users search using plain English instead of memorizing keywords, with inline descriptions for both new and experienced users .

Virtuoso Dashboard
A new session management tool with real-time thumbnails, session filtering, and system health monitoring to help spot and resolve frozen sessions .

Place Like Layout
Generates schematics that mirror photonic layouts, making them easier to interpret and debug, with support for waveguide netting and editable formats .

Functional Safety Enhancements
New FuSa Results View with a color-coded Fault Detection Matrix classifying faults into DD, DU, UD, and UU categories. Fault sampling and auto-stop criteria enable smarter simulation for large designs, supporting ISO 26262 compliance .