Synopsys, the software maker behind how most computing chips are designed, said on Wednesday it has struck a revenue-sharing deal with OpenAI to co-develop an AI model built specifically for chip design. The model, to be called GPT-Synopsys, will be trained on everything from describing a chip's circuits in code-like language to laying out billions of transistors on a small square of silicon.

The deal has an unusual structure: OpenAI will pay Synopsys a training subscription fee to learn how to use its tools, and when Synopsys customers use the finished product, the two companies will share revenue based on how much the model improves the design of a chip. "We structured the agreement in a way that it will not be cannibalizing our business," Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi told Reuters. "It will be an upside to our business given we're delivering more value to the customer." Synopsys shares rose as much as 7% after the announcement, paired with a forecast of 15% revenue growth for fiscal 2027 — above analyst estimates.

The end goal is speed: OpenAI's model will learn to operate Synopsys's own software tools to help engineers work through trade-offs and optimizations, "to be able to shave off weeks, months from the design process and to bring more chips to the world," OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman said. Ghazi added one guardrail: every AI-generated design will still be double-checked by Synopsys's traditional sign-off tools — "what we call sign-off or ground truth, is essential" — before anyone trusts it.

Sources