The semiconductor IP market has undergone significant transformation over the past two decades. Sales volumes have surged, particularly in the digital domain, where workflows have matured into well-structured, repeatable processes. In contrast, analog IP continues to present complex challenges. It remains a less standardized segment, where both developers and customers must navigate evolving practices and persistent obstacles.
With more than 30 years in the integrated circuit industry, Petri Heliö, Principal IC Designer at CoreHW, has witnessed these shifts firsthand. As a founding member of CoreHW, Heliö has helped shape the company’s approach to both IP development and commercialization. Observing the wider industry, he identifies a clear need for improved methodologies in how analog semiconductor IP is handled—arguing that bridging these gaps is vital for both IP providers and their customers.
The Unique Challenge of Analog IP Commercialization
Today, digital IP dominates the sales landscape, supported by well-defined specifications, automated flows, and robust verification frameworks. These elements have streamlined development and facilitated integration and reuse.
Analog IP, however, remains an inherently different domain. Its performance is highly sensitive to process variations, environmental conditions, and system-level considerations, making it far more difficult to generalize or productize.
Tero Kainulainen, CoreHW’s Director of IP Business and Business Development elaborates: “Unlike soft Digital IP that can be synthesized across a range of technologies, Analog IP must be hardened, custom designed and validated, for a specific silicon process node. This involves using predefined process options, which directly influence performance and limit the degree of portability. “ Kainulainen continues, “As a result, not only is the design effort higher, but customers must also align their integration and system requirements with the constraints set by the hardened IP’s process environment.”
While market demand for analog IP remains strong, the current ecosystem for development, sales, and integration lacks the cohesion seen in the digital domain. “It’s not just about having the technical ability to design analog IP, it’s about ensuring that the entire process, from development to sale, is structured in a way that makes the product usable for the customer,” Heliö explains. “That’s where a lot of companies struggle.”
A common pitfall in analog IP sales is the mistaken belief that it can be treated like digital IP. Attempts to replicate digital sales models often fail to account for the deeper technical and support demands inherent to analog solutions.
The Underestimated Importance of Documentation and Support
One of the most critical—and frequently overlooked—aspects of IP sales is the quality of documentation and ongoing technical support. A schematic and a datasheet are seldom sufficient to convey the full operating characteristics of an analog IP block. Insufficient insight can lead to misunderstanding, rework, or failed integrations—turning a potential asset into a liability.
“The situation becomes even more complex when multiple IP blocks from different suppliers are combined. Variations in design assumptions, interface expectations, and electrical requirements, such as clean supply voltages or precision reference signals, can result in subtle but critical performance degradations,” explains Kainulainen. “Without deep insight into each block’s dependencies and sensitivities, ensuring seamless interoperability becomes a major system level challenge.”
To make analog IP a viable and scalable solution, comprehensive documentation and expert support must be part of the delivery. This includes integration guidance and, when needed, direct post-sales supports. “Datasheets only tell part of the story,” notes Heliö. “The real value lies in whether the vendor can go beyond documentation, whether they can provide actual insights, integration support, and real technical dialogue with the customer.”
At CoreHW, this is something the team actively works towards. The company recognizes that selling semiconductor IP is not just about delivering a product, it’s about ensuring that the IP benefits the customer. This means refining not just the designs themselves, but the entire process around how IP is developed, documented, and supported.
Semiconductor IP Sales Should Be About Value
A key limitation in the current IP marketplace is the tendency to treat semiconductor IP as a product, a standalone entity that the customer must then figure out how to implement. This mindset fails to address the reality: that successful deployment requires a high level of vendor-customer collaboration to ensure that the IP serves the customer’s specific use case.
This prompts a strategic question: is it better to offer a broad portfolio of IP blocks or to focus on a smaller set of rigorously validated, highly supported solutions? While both have merit, the real value might be to prioritize high value, well documented, and highly validated semiconductor IP solutions over sheer volume. This approach ensures that customers are not left struggling to make an IP block work in their design, but instead receive a well packaged, thoroughly tested product that meets their real-world requirements.
Post-sales engagement is also essential. A knowledgeable support team that understands the design context can often be the key to avoiding integration pitfalls. From a customer’s standpoint, investing in robust support is less an expense than a safeguard—one that can significantly reduce risk, accelerate project timelines, and ensure performance targets are met.
“The semiconductor IP market is evolving” say Heliö and Kainulainen, “but the industry still has work to do.” Companies that develop and sell IP need to take greater responsibility for what they offer, not just in terms of design, but in ensuring that their semiconductor IP is truly usable. That means improving documentation, offering deeper technical insights, and committing to real collaboration with customers. As industry moves forward, companies that recognize these challenges and actively work to address them will be the ones that set the new standard for IP sales.
CoreHW’s Commitment to Excellence in Analog IP
At CoreHW, we recognize the technical challenges associated with high-performance analog IP delivery. What differentiates us is a company-wide commitment to constant improvement—not just in the design and validation of our solutions, but in how we communicate, collaborate, and support our customers.
Our mission is to provide analog IP that is reliable, well-supported, and fit for real-world deployment. We aim to be more than a vendor—we strive to be a trusted partner in helping customers navigate the unique challenges of analog integration.
About Petri Heliö
Petri Heliö is a Principal IC Design Engineer at CoreHW with over 20 years of experience in RF, analog, and mixed-signal IC design. His expertise spans RF PLLs, data converters, test automation, and wireless systems. Petri has held both technical and leadership roles at global semiconductor companies.
About Tero Kainulainen
Tero Kainulainen has over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He began his career at Nokia, where he successfully managed the development of several ICs and RF modules through to mass production. Following his time at Nokia, Mr. Kainulainen held RFIC and RF Project Manager roles at STMicroelectronics, ST-Ericsson, and Ericsson. Prior to joining CoreHW, he worked at NXP as a System Project Manager, responsible for RF and IC development in automotive wireless communication systems. At CoreHW, Mr. Kainulainen leads the IP Business and Business Development efforts.
Seeking reliable IP integration for your next design?
Collaborate with CoreHW to access silicon-proven IP solutions that are thoroughly validated, fully documented, and backed by expert support from specification through to deployment. Reach out at sales@corehw.com or visit www.corehw.com/ip to learn more.
