Synopsys and OpenAI have agreed to develop GPT-Synopsys, an AI model for chip-design work, under a revenue-sharing arrangement that ties payments to how much the model improves customers’ chip designs. The deal places OpenAI’s model inside a process used to design computing chips. Separately, an unverified report says the Federal Trade Commission is preparing formal information demands for OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI labs over potential consumer risks.
The corporate deal
Synopsys said Wednesday, Sept. 30, that OpenAI will pay a training subscription fee to learn how to use Synopsys tools. When customers use the product, the companies will share revenue based on how much the model improves a chip’s design, Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi told Reuters.
The agreement covers work that starts with a description of a chip’s circuits in a code-like language and extends to arranging billions of transistors on a small square of silicon. Synopsys makes software for designing computing chips, and the proposed model is being trained and tuned for that work.
OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman described the model’s intended role in a video announcing the deal. He said it would learn to use Synopsys software to help engineers assess design trade-offs and optimizations, “to be able to shave off weeks, months from the design process and to bring more chips to the world.”
Ghazi said Synopsys tools using traditional computing techniques will double-check the model’s work and verify whether a chip will work. “The model needs these guardrails in order to check the physics,” he said. He also said, “The need for validating with the highest level of fidelity, what we call sign-off or ground truth, is essential.”
Ghazi said the arrangement “will not be cannibalizing our business” and “will be an upside to our business given we're delivering more value to the customer.” The agreement pairs a paid training subscription with revenue sharing. Synopsys’ traditional tools will still play a part in verification.
Revenue and oversight
Synopsys announced the agreement at an investor summit. Ghazi also said the company now expects revenue growth of 15% for fiscal 2027, above analyst estimates of 11.19% growth, according to LSEG data. Synopsys shares rose as much as 7% after the partnership and forecast announcement.
Separately, the New York Post reported Wednesday that the FTC plans to issue formal demands, similar to subpoenas, asking AI companies to provide information. The report cited administration officials and named Anthropic and OpenAI among the companies facing the reported demands. The FTC, Anthropic and OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Reuters said it couldn’t verify the report. The available account doesn’t provide the planned demands’ text, specify what information the FTC would seek, or describe any formal action already taken by the commission. It reports a possible inquiry into potential consumer risks, not findings against the companies.
The account describes a corporate partnership and a reported federal inquiry. It doesn’t identify effects on a particular population, a sovereignty transfer, or popular opposition to the agreement. No nationalist or dissident response appears in the report.