Phil Kaufman Award

The Electronic System Design Alliance—ESDA  and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation—CEDA, co-host and sponsor the annual Phil Kaufman Award. This award honors an individual showing demonstrable IMPACT on electronic design through contributions in the field of Electronic System Design including:

• Business
• Industry Direction and Promotion
• Technology and Engineering
• Educational and Mentoring 

The Phil Kaufman Hall of Fame honors well-deserving individuals who made significant contributions but passed before their contributions were recognized with the Phil Kaufman Award.

After many years as a design engineer and manager at companies including Intel, Phil became chairman and president of Silicon Compiler Systems, an early provider of high-level EDA tools that enabled designers to develop complex chips more efficiently.

With design complexity increasing, Phil became CEO of Quickturn Design Systems, a pioneer in the emulation of complex chips. Quickturn’s products helped designers to speed the verification of complex designs.

Phil passed away in 1992 during a business trip to Japan. The ESD Alliance (previously the EDA Consortium) founded the Phil Kaufman Award to honor his memory and contributions to the electronic design industry.

Congratulations to Lip-Bu Tan, the 2025 Phil Kaufman Award Recipient!

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Phil Kaufman Award.