❯ OpenAI and Synopsys partner on a chip design model under a revenue-sharing deal

AI that runs EDA toolsOpenAI and chip design software giant Synopsys announced a multi-year partnership to build a chip design model, GPT-Synopsys, with revenue sharing between them. According to summaries including TLDR, the model is meant to operate chip design tools like an expert engineer, handling tasks such as timing closure and power optimization.

The most labor-intensive stepSynopsys makes EDA (electronic design automation) software, the essential tools chip companies use to turn circuit designs into manufacturable blueprints. Timing closure ensures signals reach each circuit unit within set times, while power optimization cuts power use without losing performance. These tasks require experienced engineers to tune parameters repeatedly, and a chip often takes more than a year.

Engineers' roles shiftIf a model can take over much of that tuning, chip engineers could focus on architecture choices and design cycles could shorten. OpenAI is also developing its own AI chips, so joining the design-tool business is both a new revenue line and a way to serve its own hardware. The revenue-sharing structure shows both sides are betting such models can be sold directly to chip design customers.

▪ SIGNALAI is starting to help design the chips that run AI, and the faster that loop turns, the harder it gets to predict how fast compute costs will fall.