I suppose I shouldn't kick up dust here, because I left EDA programming...<p>But man, EDA programing is not one of those things you can just take a 6-week bootcamp and start hacking away on. Typically, you eat raman for 5-7 years to get a Ph.D., then you spend 5-10 years as a newb making your chops. And nobody takes you seriously until you've done the "cursus honorarium" of working for Synopsys, Cadence, and one or two chip companies.<p>Virtually every problem is NP-Complete, and the problem size is doubling every few years because of Moore's law. You need to learn circuit theory, computational geometry, optimization, transmission line theory---and you've got to keep up with all the cool programming techniques, like lock-free programming--because you are working on next-generation sized programs using this generation's computers.<p>What I'm trying to say is that its like a 20-year journey to be able to write this kind of software. And now, you've got to compete against....free?<p>I agree schools need access to these tools, but if we are going to make Chip Fabrication a national priority, we'll need to spend money not just on subsidies to billion-dollar companies, but we also need ensure that there is a solid pipeline of skilled and trained people to make the whole thing work.<p>Cut the schools a check big enough for them to buy the tools they need at a price which is commensurate with the expertise it takes to build them.