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SnapEDA, a platform for electrical engineers to easily access electric component data, is rebranding as SnapMagic<\/a> and introducing a new suite of features that could be a game changer for electronics design.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re an electrical engineer, you\u2019ve likely heard of (or use) SnapEDA. The platform has been around for a decade, with a user base of over 1.5 million engineers globally and partnerships with some of the largest component suppliers in the world, including Texas Instruments, Samtec and TE Connectivity.<\/p>\n The company was founded by electrical engineer Natasha Baker, who was constantly frustrated by the slow, inefficient processes to build even a simple circuit board. One of the most labor-intensive parts of the job involved creating digital models of each component on the board \u2013 a process that could take weeks to finish, depending on the complexity of the design. She launched SnapEDA in 2013<\/a> as a third-party digital model database and joined Y Combinator as part of the summer 2015 cohort.<\/p>\n But the company doesn\u2019t want to stop there \u2013 hence the rebrand and new features.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now we\u2019re helping [engineers] at this very particular place in their design, which is, \u2018I need this model. I don\u2019t have it. I\u2019m going to come to SnapEDA to get it,\u2019\u201d Baker said. \u201cLast year we were reflecting [that] our vision is we want to automate circuit board design. We want to be with the engineer from the beginning of their journey straight through to a manufactured product.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that AI is advancing incredibly quickly,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen copilot technologies providing enormous leverage to software engineers. With our proprietary database, what we realized is that we are in a perfect position to bring this technology to hardware engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n The result is SnapMagic Copilot, a new tool to automate the most common chores as part of circuit board design. That includes auto-completing common circuits, using natural language to actually instruct the PCB design tool, recommending components based on cost, power consumption requirements or supplier inventory, and automating full reference designs.<\/p>\n Of course, natural language processing tools like Chat-GPT have one well-known flaw, which is their tendency to \u201challucinate\u201d (which is to say, make stuff up but present it as fact). Baker said the company is avoiding this pitfall by \u201ccreating a natural language interface that still relies on fundamental circuit theory principles.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the new capabilities leverage SnapMagic\u2019s unique business model: the company isn\u2019t looking to compete with any design tool, and the product is free for engineers. Instead, SnapMagic wants to continue to be a \u201cpoint of influence\u201d in the $1.3 trillion electronics component space, connecting engineers with certain types of components. Based off its own statistics, Baker said over 55% of engineers end up purchasing the product it recommends.<\/p>\n