MILPITAS, CA — Sales of PCB and MCM design tools rose 18.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, the Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance announced today. 

Printed circuit board and multichip module tool revenue reached $231.5 million in the quarter ended Jun. 30. The four-quarters moving average for the segment, which compares the most recent four quarters to the prior four quarters, increased 12.1%.

“What was really interesting was the incredible strength on the PCB side,” ESD Alliance board spokesman Wally Rhines told PCD&F. Rhines, who is also president and CEO of Mentor, added, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a number (18.5%) that big.”

The data showed North America and Japan were the strongest regions during the period, with PCB software sales up 33.8% in the Americas. Every category of PCB tools was up, Rhines added.

Overall electronic design automation industry revenue increased 8.2% to $2.39 billion. The four-quarters moving average rose 9%. All regions except Asia/Pacific showed double-digit revenue increases.

Companies that were tracked employed 41,706 workers in the quarter, up 9% from a year ago and up 1.4% sequentially.

Computer-aided engineering revenue was up 21.1% to $819.9 million and IC physical design and verification was up 7.5% to $466.9 million. Services revenue fell 5.4% to $103 million. Also falling was semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) revenue, down 3.1% to $768.7 million, due in large part to revised accounting standards significantly impacting revenue recognition.

The Americas, EDA’s largest region, purchased $1.098 billion worth of EDA products and services, up 11.3%. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales rose 13%, and Japan was up 13.2% to $245.4 million. Asia/Pacific region fell 0.1% to $691 million, due in part to the new accounting standards.