US-based chip design software provider Synopsys announced entering an agreement to purchase engineering simulation software developer Ansys.
This definitive agreement will close with a cash-and-stock transaction. The purchase, worth $35 billion, details that Ansys shareholders will be given $197 in cash and 0.345 shares of Synopsys common stock for each of their Ansys shares.
The acquisition, officially declared on January 16, values each Ansys share at $390.19. On December 21, the last trading day for Ansys before this announcement, its shares stood at a value of $559.96. After news of the acquisition broke, Synposys saw a 3.8% increase in its share price, rising to $513. However, Ansys saw a 4.8% drop to $329.86.
Synopsys expressed optimism on the deal, believing it would grow its customer base and positioning in the market through the creation of “silicone-to-system” product sets.
“By joining forces with Synopsys, we will amplify our joint efforts to drive new levels of customer innovation,” added Ansys CEO and President Ajei Gopal. “This transformative combination brings together each company’s highly complementary capabilities to meet the evolving needs of today’s engineers and give them unprecedented insight into the performance of their products.”
Ansys’ process simulation software is leveraged throughout the additive manufacturing industry to optimize designs for 3D printing. The company recently announced a collaboration with leading 3D printing software developer Materialise, integrating its process simulation capabilities with the Magics build preparation tool.
The acquisition is set to be finalized in the first half of 2025, pending Ansys shareholder approval, necessary regulatory clearances, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
Synopsys and Ansys combination to bolster AM design?
Located in Silicon Valley, Synopsys provides software tools for chip makers to develop and examine their processors. The firm claims a range of prestigious clients, such as global GPU manufacturers Nvidia and Intel.
Both Synopsys and Ansys have expressed that this fusion will cater to customer interest in melding “electronics and physics”, with chip manufacturers reportedly keen on designing larger appliances.
The agreement also aims to broaden Synopsys’ capacity to reach automotive, aviation, and industrial equipment manufacturers, who are recognizing an expanding role of semiconductors in their products. Ansys currently has a strong foothold in these sectors.
Synopsys and Ansys merging is anticipated to affect the additive manufacturing market, with an expansion expected in the 3D printing software portfolio of Synopsys. The acquisition deal will allow Synopsys to possess Ansys’ extensive suite of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and process simulation software, which is optimized for additive manufacturing.
The additive manufacturing software offerings of Ansys comprises of its Additive Suite which is an end-to-end 3D printing workflow, its Additive Print process simulation, the GRANTA MI Enterprise materials database, and also Ansys Discovery for 3D Design. These are design and simulation software platforms that are in competition with additive manufacturing tools such as Fusion360 and AutoCAD from Autodesk, in addition to Dassault Systemes‘ Solidworks.
Before Synopsys’ acquisition, Ansys was engaged in expanding and further developing its additive manufacturing portfolio. The company announced a partnership in 2021 with a Private U.S. Aerospace firm called Launcher and 3D printer company Velo3D for the optimization of a crucial component design in Launcher’s 3D printed E-2 rocket engine.
The project included usage of Ansys CFX computational fluid dynamics (CFD) platform by the engineering team. The simulation software was needed for ensuring the alignment of the rocket’s level of thrust projection with its performance. This was followed by its parameters being optimized via simulated run tests.
More recently, it was announced during Formnext 2023 that Ansys had collaborated with 3D printing software developer Materialise. This partnership will see Ansys integrate its Additive Suite into Magics, Materiliase’s 3D printing data and build preparation tool.
Set to launch in Q2 2023, this new end-to-end 3D printing platform will enable Magics users to easily access Ansys’ simulation software as part of a singular streamlined workflow. This will reportedly alleviate issues associated with data transfer between different design and simulation platforms.
“Since inception 37 years ago, Synopsys has been an innovation pioneer, central to world-changing semiconductor advances in computation, networking, and mobility, and now enabling the new era of ‘pervasive intelligence,’ commented Aart de Geus, Executive Chair and Founder of Synopsys.
“Our Board and management team carefully evaluated our top strategic options to lead and win in this fast-growing new wave of electronics and system design.”
Digital simulation of a motor pump overload using Ansys software. Image via Ansys.
Investment in 3D printing software
The 3D printing industry has recently witnessed a substantial amount of investment into 3D printing software companies.
“Why did the 3D printer go to therapy? Because it had too many layers of unresolved issues!”
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