OpenAI and Synopsys partner on GPT-Synopsys for AI-native chip design

OpenAI and Synopsys Inc. on Wednesday announced a multi-year strategic partnership to jointly develop GPT-Synopsys, a specialized model meant to use Synopsys electronic design automation tools as expert chip designers would — running workflows, interpreting results and iterating toward verified outcomes for engineer review.

Under the agreement, OpenAI will license Synopsys’ EDA tools to train and operate the specialized model, while the companies collaborate on research, go-to-market plans and a shared revenue framework. Synopsys president and chief executive Sassine Ghazi said the aim is to accelerate design without compromising power, performance and area or first-time-right silicon. OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman framed the work as using frontier AI to improve the systems that power AI itself.

GPT-Synopsys is designed to reason about design and verification and to operate Synopsys tools directly, with deep integration planned into Synopsys.ai and the Synopsys Autopilot agentic platform. The joint offering is to bundle compute, model access and licenses on OpenAI-hosted infrastructure, with enterprise security controls; Synopsys said customer design data will not be used to train the model and will be encrypted at rest and in transit. Early technology engagements with leading semiconductor customers are already underway.

The partnership marks a shift from bolting general-purpose models onto EDA through agents toward models that are native expert users of the tools. For chipmakers facing longer, costlier design cycles, the companies are pitching faster exploration of alternatives — and a tighter loop from design intent to manufacturable silicon.

Sources: Synopsys press release, “OpenAI and Synopsys Announce GPT-Synopsys” (https://news.synopsys.com/2026-09-30-OpenAI-and-Synopsys-Announce-GPT-Synopsys-Frontier-Intelligence-to-Revolutionize-Chip-Design). Secondary report: Unite.AI (https://www.unite.ai/synopsys-openai-sign-multi-year-deal-to-develop-gpt-synopsys-model/).