Upon designing a standard cell type semiconductor chip, there are prepared
a plurality of types of standard cells and a plurality of types of yield
improvement standard cells having the same function as the standard cells
and having a layout which is changed to improve yield. A priority order
list to be used upon replacing the plurality of types of first standard
cells is generated. Automatic placement is performed by using the
plurality of types of first standard cells. A certain type of a first
standard cell is selected from the plurality of types of first standard
cells according to a priority order in the generated list. The selected
type of a first standard cell is replaced with a corresponding type of a
second standard cell.