2025 was a pivotal year in Synopsys’ corporate evolution, marking a shift from its historic focus on electronic design automation to a broader role spanning engineering workflows from silicon to complete systems.
In a recent letter to stakeholders, President and CEO Sassine Ghazi outlined how the company’s acquisition of Ansys in July 2025 reshaped both its portfolio and its market positioning.
The integration of Ansys brought simulation and analysis capabilities into the Synopsys portfolio, enabling coverage across multiple engineering domains. According to Ghazi, this combination arrived at a moment when artificial intelligence applications are increasingly demanding higher compute performance while significantly increasing system-level complexity. He framed this trend as a driver for tighter software and hardware co-design and for tools that support multidomain integration across electronics, mechanics, and physics-based simulation.
Rather than treating AI as an isolated workload, Synopsys positions it as a system-level challenge. Ghazi argues that the development of AI-enabled products requires new workflows that address performance, scale, and efficiency simultaneously, particularly as designs move beyond single-die devices towards complex, heterogeneous systems.
Broadening industry reach
The addition of Ansys also expands Synopsys’ presence beyond its traditional semiconductor customer base. Prior to the acquisition, the company had already increased engagement in non-semiconductor markets. With Ansys and its established channel partner network, Synopsys now addresses a wider set of verticals, including automotive, energy, aerospace, robotics, industrial, and healthcare applications.
This broader industry footprint reflects a shift in how advanced electronics are embedded into physical systems, with simulation and analysis playing a larger role earlier in the design process.
Operating in a constrained global environment
Ghazi also acknowledged the external pressures that affected Synopsys during 2025. Export restrictions and geopolitical factors introduced uncertainty into the company’s sales activities, while changes in the intellectual property landscape created additional execution challenges. Although these factors have had a near-term impact on operations, the company maintains that its long-term strategy remains intact and continues to deliver outcomes for customers and shareholders.
During 2025, Synopsys highlighted several technical and ecosystem developments, including:
- Collaboration with leading semiconductor foundries on advanced process nodes approaching the angstrom era
- Expansion of hardware-assisted verification platforms to support the development of next-generation AI silicon
- Deployment of Generative AI capabilities to compress design workflows from days to hours, and from hours to minutes, alongside the introduction of its AgentEngineer technology for chip design
- Integration of NVIDIA Omniverse technology into simulation and analysis tools to support physical AI development and digital twin creation
Focus areas for early 2026
Looking ahead, Synopsys has outlined three ongoing priorities: technology leadership, operational execution, and financial discipline. A key milestone expected in early 2026 is the delivery of integrated capabilities that combine Ansys multiphysics technologies with the Synopsys EDA stack. This integration is positioned to support advanced packaging and multi-die design, enabling more holistic optimisation across electrical, thermal, and mechanical domains.
Partnerships are also expected to play a central role. A recently announced collaboration with NVIDIA was presented as an early example of how the combined Synopsys-Ansys portfolio can influence physical AI development. The partnership focuses on accelerated computing and digital twins, with the stated goal of addressing cross-domain co-design challenges in advanced electronics and intelligent machines.
Industry engagement and anniversary milestone
Synopsys plans to expand on the discussion of its roadmap and partnerships at its Synopsys Converge event in March 2026, to be held in Silicon Valley. The event is designed as a forum bringing together semiconductor and simulation customers, ecosystem partners, startups, and academia to examine how AI is reshaping engineering practices.
2026 also marks the company’s 40th anniversary, a milestone looked at as an opportunity to reflect on four decades of technology development while maintaining focus on future system-level engineering challenges.
Ghazi concluded the letter by thanking investors, partners, customers, and employees, and by emphasising Synopsys’ intention to continue developing integrated engineering solutions that address increasing system complexity across multiple industries.
