OpenAI and Synopsys Jointly Develop GPT-Synopsys, Advancing Agents Deeper into Chip Design

OpenAI and chip design software company Synopsys have announced a multi-year strategic partnership to jointly develop a specialized model for semiconductor design, GPT-Synopsys. Under the agreement, OpenAI will obtain a license to use Synopsys' electronic design automation (EDA) tools, and the two parties will also collaborate on research and development, marketing, and establish a revenue-sharing mechanism. Currently, the project has initiated early technical collaboration with several leading semiconductor customers. GPT-Synopsys will combine OpenAI's frontier models, Synopsys EDA tools, and chip design expertise, enabling the model to directly operate design software, analyze run results, and iteratively optimize solutions. In tasks such as power, performance, and area (PPA) optimization, as well as timing closure and verification closure, the agent can run tools, interpret outputs, and implement adjustments, with engineers ultimately reviewing the results. The service is planned to run on OpenAI-hosted infrastructure, while remaining compatible with customers' existing agent harnesses and integrating with Synopsys.ai and Synopsys Autopilot. The two companies stated that customer design data will not be used to train models, and the system will also provide encryption in transit and at rest, as well as configurable data retention, audit, and permission controls.