This chapter provides an overview of cone optimization models for facility layout and VLSI floorplanning problems. We focus on two classes of problems to which cone optimization approaches have been successfully applied, namely the single-row facility layout problem, and fixed-outline floorplanning in VLSI circuit design. For the former, the semidefinite optimization approaches can provide global optimal solutions for instances with up to 40 facilities, and tight global bounds for instances with up to 100 facilities. For the latter, a cone optimization model provided the first non-trivial lower bounds in the literature.