Cadence supports PhD research into novel computer architectures at our CASCADE Centre

24 November 2025

Thanks to a donation from Cadence, we can further expand the number of PhD students at CASCADE - our dedicated Computer Architecture and Semiconductor Design Centre.

CASCADE focuses on research to address some of the grand challenges in computer architecture, design automation and semiconductors. This is a critical area of computing that underpins today’s technologies and drives the next generation of computing systems.

"We're very grateful to Cadence," says Professor Timothy Jones, Director of the Centre. "Through their generosity, we can fund three new students over the next couple of years, helping us realise our vision of a Centre that addresses key challenges in the field and trains the next generation of computer architects, compiler writers and hardware designers.

"Donations such as this support our students and help broaden our research, which is informed and supported by our industrial partners. With our first cohort now starting, we aim to generate pre-competitive, open-source artefacts from our research and build a centre for collaboration between companies to drive the development of novel computer architectures and design automation."

Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic systems design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. The company applies its underlying Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware and IP that turn design concepts into reality.

"We recognize the pivotal role that future generations of computer scientists and semiconductor designers will play in enabling the next era of innovation, particularly with the exponential implementation of AI across all computing platforms," said Paul Cunningham, Senior Vice President and General Manager, System Verification Group at Cadence.

"By supporting the CASCADE Centre, we are investing directly in the foundational research that will drive advancements in microarchitecture, design automation, and high-performance computing, ensuring that the critical interplay between hardware and software is optimized for sophisticated agentic AI applications."

Cadence joins Arm and AMD in offering its support to students at the Centre.

A critical area of computing

Computer architecture is a critical area of computing. It underpins today's technologies and drives the next generation of computing systems. Here in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, we're proud of our research and innovation in computer architecture and design automation, advancing the future of computing in this area.

But to maintain this leading position, we need to invest in developing the research leaders of tomorrow. That's why we established the new CASCADE Research Centre to fund PhD students working in this area, through support from industry. Its first cohort of PhD students began their studies in October 2025.

Addressing grand challenges

The Centre will focus on research that addresses some of the grand challenges in computer architecture, design automation and semiconductors.

PhD students will work alongside researchers here who have expertise across the breadth of the area, encompassing the design and optimisation of general-purpose microprocessors, specialised accelerators, on-chip interconnect and memory systems, verification, compilation and networking, quantum architecture and resource estimation. This will allow them to explore the areas they are most passionate about, while addressing industry-relevant research.

• The first cohort of PhD students has just started at the CASCADE Research Centre, and applications are now open for the second cohort to start in October 2026.

• We encourage prospective applicants to contact one of our supervisors, think about how their research will meet one of the challenges we're targeting and understand how to make an application to us.

• For more information about the CASCADE Centre and how organisations can get involved in its work, please email Centre Director Professor Timothy Jones.

• If you would like to support the new CASCADE Centre, please contact Victoria Thompson (email: victoria.thompson@admin.cam.ac.uk / phone: + 44 (0)7593 139297) or Helen Francis (email research-strategy-manager@cst.cam.ac.uk / phone: +44 (0) 1223 763585).