OpenAI and Synopsys announced a multi-year strategic partnership to develop GPT-Synopsys, a specialized artificial intelligence model designed to automate and optimize semiconductor design workflows.
The agreement combines OpenAI’s advanced AI models with Synopsys’ electronic design automation (EDA) software and semiconductor engineering expertise. OpenAI will license Synopsys’ EDA tools to develop the specialized model, with the companies collaborating on research, development and commercialization under a shared-revenue arrangement.
The project is designed to help chip engineers develop more sophisticated processors at a faster pace while maintaining top performance, power efficiency and reliability. It marks one of the first times AI is used in a complex workflow rather than generating content and bears a strong resemblance to artificial general intelligence, the next stage in AI.
GPT-Synopsys is intended to use OpenAI’s frontier AI models to operate Synopsys’ design tools as an expert engineer would. Rather than simply generating suggestions or answering technical questions, the system will be designed to execute engineering tasks, evaluate the results and make iterative changes to improve a design.
Engineers will be able to delegate objectives such as power, performance and area (PPA) optimization, timing closure and verification closure to AI agents. These agents will run the appropriate tools, interpret their outputs, implement design modifications and repeat the process until they reach results suitable for engineering review.
PPA optimization is a central part of modern semiconductor design, especially for increasingly complex processors and AI accelerators. PPA optimization is the process of designing an integrated circuit to consume less electrical power, execute tasks faster, and occupy less silicon area. These three objectives are closely related, and improving one can make the others harder to achieve.
The technology will also address verification, a critical stage in semiconductor development in which engineers establish that a design meets its functional and performance requirements before manufacturing.
Synopsys makes software and intellectual property used throughout the semiconductor design process, including tools for digital and analog design, simulation, verification and physical implementation.
The companies plan to integrate GPT-Synopsys into Synopsys.ai and Synopsys Autopilot, the company’s agentic AI engineering platform. The specialized model will run on OpenAI-hosted infrastructure and is designed to interoperate with customers’ existing AI agent frameworks.
Early technology engagements with leading semiconductor customers are already underway, according to the companies. They did not disclose a general commercial availability date or provide performance benchmarks in the announcement.
