MSS reported industry sales of $1.05 billion for the fourth quarter, a 17 percent increase over the year-earlier quarter, and total annual worldwide revenue of $3.8 billion, a 10 percent increase over 1999 and a new annual revenue record.

EDA industry revenue exceeded $800 million for the tenth consecutive quarter, and has grown at a compound annual growth rate above 13 percent from 1996 to 2000, the MSS report said. Sales of IC layout tools fueled revenue growth for the recent fourth quarter, increasing 58 percent to reach $250 million, the report said. The Japanese market led the way, generating nearly three times as much revenue for IC layout tools in the latest fourth quarter versus a year ago, according to the MSS study.

IC layout revenue for the year totaled $778 million, up 24 percent year-to-year.

Printed-circuit board and multichip module layout tools combined for $114 million in Q4 sales, up 25 percent from the 1999 quarter. Sales for the year grew 28 percent to $422 million. Pc-board and MCM layout tools have for the past two years been the fastest-growing EDA product segment tracked by MSS, having grown at double-digit rates for nine consecutive quarters.

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) revenues reached $507 million in the fourth quarter, up 6 percent from a year ago. CAE remains the largest EDA tool category, MSS said, with over $1.8 billion in revenues in 2000, up 4 percent from 1999.

Formal and functional verification tools led CAE growth, increasing 45 percent in 2000 to more than $62 million.

Since the third quarter last year, MSS has tracked semiconductor intellectual property revenues generated by EDA companies. Fourth-quarter revenues for this segment were $29.3 million, up from $26 million in the third quarter.

Revenue from consulting services grew 25 percent in Q4 to $133 million, marking an unbroken string of 16 consecutive quarters of revenue increases. For the full year, consulting services revenue totaled $493 million in 2000, a 16 percent increase over 1999. Consulting services have posted double-digit revenue growth each year since EDAC began the MSS report, the group said.

Regional breakdown

On a regional basis, revenue in North America grew 19 percent in the fourth quarter to $597 million. North American revenues for the year increased 13 percent to $2.1 billion, which made up 57 percent of the total world market.

Western Europe remained the second-largest geographic region, generating $200 million fourth-quarter revenue, a 3 percent year-to-year increase. Revenues from the region on the year totaled $702 million, or 19 percent of the worldwide total.

Revenues from Japan increased 25 percent in the fourth quarter to $180 million. For the full year, revenues from Japan grew 7 percent to reach $665 million, or 18 percent of the world market.

In the rest of the world, EDA revenues increased 23 percent in Q4 to $77 million, and increased 21 over the full year to $252 million, or 7 percent of the world market.

Revenue for EDA software that runs on Unix platforms grew faster than revenues for DOS and Windows platforms, and accounted for 86 percent of total revenue for the fourth quarter, the MSS report said.