Chip-Software Firm Synopsys Agrees To Buy Ansys for $35 Billion

Synopsys, a chip-design company, agreed to acquire software developer Ansys for about $35 billion in enterprise value. From a report: Ansys shareholders will receive $197 in cash and 0.345 shares of Synopsys stock per share, according to an announcement by the companies Tuesday. The takeover of Ansys is one of the largest transactions globally of the past 12 months and provides an early boost for dealmakers in 2024 as they seek to move on from a lackluster period of mergers and acquisitions activity. Synopsys, based in Sunnyvale, California, is one of a few major companies that make software used to design semiconductors, competing primarily with Cadence Design Systems Inc.

What are the synergies here?

[nikkipolya]

I am not entirely sure what are the synergies here. I understand Ansys can do FEA, Thermal, Fluid, EM etc. kind of simulations. But what percentage of Ansys's existing customers are into chip design? And what percentage of Synopsys' existing customer do FEA, Fluid simulation. May be they are a little bit into thermal and EM simulations. And then there is the big question of integration between these software. Historically integration between large engineering software has been poor.

Re:

[Entrope]

That's a good question. Synopsys has also acquired various software analysis and security tools (Coverity, Black Duck). I'm curious if there is a cohesive strategy besides "buy ALL the serious engineering software tools".

Re:

[laughingskeptic]

They use Ansys. This allows them to establish the priorities in products that have become widely used in the industry by companies like Intel, Infosys Ltd, Panasonic Corp, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Cisco Systems, Inc. Time will tell if this cost them more than they get in return, but this looks like a smart move right now. Ansys also gives them "AI" street cred that they didn't have before which every CEO is looking to incubate or buy at the moment. If they are smart they will not try to integrat

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

This thing glows:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]

Seems like a DARPA vacuum for MIC-utility software, with China as a side chick.

Really strange.

Re:

[dmatos]

In higher-power silicon applications, thermal management is a very important consideration. Thermal stresses and TCE mismatch need to be investigated and managed, making FEA appropriate.

New applications like microfluidics might require a combination of the fluid simulations that Ansys can perform with the semiconductor simulations that Synopsys can provide.

What this does is provide a larger toolset that's all under the same umbrella. Any company that's using one of those tools will have a much easier time

Re:

[Logger]

The synergy most like is, selling weaker products in product space at a discount, by bundling them in a deal with a stronger product in another space. From a customer perspective that's a mixed bag. You might be willing to accept a deal on the weaker product, rather than have best-in-class, if you don't need best-in-class for that product. On the flip side, if you feel the best tools for you work come from different vendors, you might end up seeing higher prices on your favorite product if you don't take ad

Calm down investment bankers

[toxonix]

Hopefully 2024 continues to be lackluster for investment bankers scooping up and mashing companies together. Only the CEO's and bankers benefit from consolidation, and probably only in the short term.