Nvidia invested about $2 billion in the world's largest EDA (electronic design automation) corporations, Synopsys, greatly expanding cooperation in semiconductor design. The move is seen as a strategy to combine GPU computing power with EDA software to change the very approach to next-generation design and engineering.
Nvidia said on the 1st (local time) that it purchased Synopsys common stock at $414.79 per share. The two companies described the partnership as a "large-scale partnership that will redefine the computing paradigm of design and engineering."
The most notable part is that Nvidia will accelerate Synopsys' "high-compute application portfolio" on a GPU basis. EDA tools such as circuit simulation, power analysis, and timing verification inherently require massive computation and can take weeks, but using GPUs can reduce that to days or even hours, they said. Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi said, "GPU-based acceleration can shorten design workloads that used to take weeks to 'a few hours.'"
The concept Nvidia is promoting is "agentic AI engineering." This means AI does more than passively answer; it autonomously makes judgments to automate design, coding, and error detection and correction. In semiconductor design, it is expected to be applied as technology that replaces or supports engineers' work, such as circuit design automation, layout optimization, and error detection.
Under the deal, Synopsys will be able to use Nvidia's GPU clusters as a cloud subscription. Analysts say the approach, which provides instant access to high-performance computing power when needed without building expensive design servers, will lower barriers to entry for design.
The two companies are also pursuing a package sales strategy that bundles Nvidia GPUs, Synopsys EDA tools, and AI-based automated design solutions for corporations customers. It is a structure that expands the ecosystem so that GPU buyers naturally use Synopsys tools together.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview with CNBC, "This partnership is about transforming the design and engineering industry, one of the most compute-intensive industries in the world." Immediately after the announcement, Synopsys shares closed up 4.85% and Nvidia rose 1.65%.