Solvers, Engines, Tools and Flows: The Next Wave for AI/ML in Physical Design

It has been six years since an ISPD-2018 invited talk on "Machine Learning Applications in Physical Design". Since then, despite considerable activity across both academia and industry, many R&D targets remain open. At the same time, there is now clearer understanding of where AI/ML can and cannot (yet) move the needle in physical design, as well as some of the difficult blockers and technical challenges that lie ahead. Some futures for AI/ML-boosted physical design are visible across solvers, engines, tools and flows - and in contexts that span generative AI, the modeling of "magic" handoffs at flow interstices, academic research infrastructure, and the culture of benchmarking and open-source EDA.