Order Matters: Unveiling the Hidden Impact of Macro Placement Sequences via Proxy-Guided LLM Evolution

Macro placement is a fundamental step in modern VLSI physical design, determining the solution quality of high-dimensional combinatorial optimization problems. Despite recent advancements in machine learning for spatial coordinate determination, the temporal dimension of placement sequencing remains largely governed by static heuristics. In this work, we demonstrate that the placement sequence is not merely a preprocessing step but a decisive factor in optimization, where suboptimal early decisions trigger irreversible domino effects that constrain the solution space. To harness this unexplored dimension, we propose OrderPlace, a novel framework that automates the discovery of macro placement strategies via proxy-guided Large Language Model (LLM) evolution. Unlike existing methods that rely on manual rules like area or connectivity, OrderPlace leverages LLMs to evolve generalizable, code-level ordering strategies—ranging from static metrics to dynamic, physics-inspired mechanisms. To mitigate the prohibitive cost of evaluating sequences, we introduce a lightweight proxy evaluation mechanism that efficiently filters candidates using a deterministic greedy probe. Experimental results on the standard ISPD 2005 benchmarks demonstrate that OrderPlace discovers novel ordering strategies. Compared with WireMask-EA and the state-of-the-art method EGPlace, OrderPlace reduces wirelength by 34.04% and 14.08%, respectively.