The big three of the EDA industry—Cadence, Siemens EDA, and Synopsys—largely owe their ‘big boys’ status to a plethora of small acquisitions. However, the news about Synopsys acquiring Ansys seems to be a different affair. While Synopsys has a market valuation of $85 billion, Ansys has a market cap of nearly $26 billion.
The news about Synopsys’ potential deal to buy Ansys for over $400 per share first appeared on Bloomberg late Thursday, 21 December. However, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Friday, there could also be other suitors. It could be another EDA industry heavyweight like Cadence or a redux of Siemens acquiring Mentor Graphics to expand its design arsenal.
Figure 1 Ansys develops, markets, and supports software solutions for design analysis and optimization.
Ansys, based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, provides simulation software solutions for product design and testing. Founded by John Swanson by the name of Swanson Analysis Systems Inc. (SASI) in 1970, it was acquired by venture capital firm T.A. Associates in 1994. The company then changed its name to Ansys and went public in 1996.
Over the years, Ansys has made its name as a supplier of multiphysics engineering simulation technologies that enable engineers to simulate the interactions between structures, heat transfer, fluids, electronics, and optical elements in a unified engineering environment.
It’s also worth noting that the news about this potential deal comes when Synopsys co-founder Aart de Geus is about to move to the executive chairman role while handing over the CEO job to his protégé Sassine Ghazi. The transition will come into effect on January 1, 2024.
Moreover, as has often been happening recently, Synopsys and Ansys first warmed up their ties by inking a strategic partnership. The two EDA outfits have recently partnered to offer signoff solutions for system-on-chips (SoCs) as well as 2.5D and 3D ICs. As part of this strategic alliance, Ansys has integrated its RedHawk-SC family of power integrity, thermal, and reliability signoff products with Synopsys’ Fusion Compiler platform, 3DIC Compiler platform, and PrimeTime signoff platform.
Figure 2 Ansys signoff solutions are certified for all FinFET nodes down to 3 nm.
Ansys’ acquisition by Synopsys is still a work in progress, and more details are expected to emerge in the coming days. But if this deal pushes through, it will probably be an important event in the electronics design industry in 2024. It could also significantly impact the EDA industry in specific and IC design landscape in general.
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