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Synopsys Talks and Walks AI with Nvidia

Synopsys Talks and Walks AI with Nvidia

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

Synopsys has become a leading proponent for AI in the design engineering community. Its role deep in the silicon design chain gives it an extraordinary opportunity to leverage AI, but it must sell the innovation to customers and developers while going through its own complex transition. Can it tap the benefits of AI while leading a coalition of customers, chipmakers, OEMs and early adopters?

To say EDA vendor Synopsys Inc.’s business and market strategy have changed in the last couple of years would be an understatement. Identifying the element – artificial intelligence – that has triggered and is fueling the change is a straightforward task, though.

The signs of transformation – and transition – at the EDA vendor are obvious to long-term watchers of the sector. CEO Sassine Ghazi recently marked his first anniversary in the position in January after founder and industry veteran Aart J. de Geus stepped aside, taking on the role of executive chair. Those are the surface changes. Deeper and more structural developments are ongoing, the planned $35 billion acquisition of Ansys being one of them.

Synopsys hopes to close the Ansys transaction in the first half of this year. A partnership with Nvidia for the use of the company’s CUDA-X has also been signed. The passing of the CEO baton has been smooth and uneventful, too. As has been the growth of the company despite significant market turbulence. Synopsys sales are forecast to rise this fiscal year to a record $6.8 billion, continuing the strong double-digit expansion it has witnessed since 2022. What lies ahead for the company in the era of AI is more difficult to ascertain, however.

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Intel may not Survive Another Bad CEO Verdict

Intel may not Survive Another Bad CEO Verdict

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:

Patrick Gelsinger’s tenure as CEO is behind Intel Corp.. For his successor, Lip-Bu Tan, though, a review and study of his predecessor’s actions, successes and missteps could be instructive. Avoiding Gelsinger’s errors – in targets set for himself and employees as well as promises to investors and workers – can help Tan avoid Gelsinger’s fate, which would plunge Intel into a hole it cannot recover from.

Today is Lip-Bu Tan’s second day at Intel Corp. as CEO. He should be under no illusions about the task he has accepted and what the main charge from the board of directors would have been: to raise Intel’s market value.

If Intel didn’t state it so clearly while considering Tan for the job, the semiconductor industry veteran would surely have deduced this himself from his immediate predecessor’s fate.

Many analysts and observers, including the Ojo-Yoshida Report earlier this week, have raised the question of whether the new CEO should keep Intel intact or spin off the foundry operation. The subject is important, but it must represent only a minor factor, considered only as a first step towards the achievement of a grander and more relevant objective, which is that the market must like Tan’s actions enough to respond by elevating the company’s market capitalization.

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Lip-Bu Tan must split up Intel

Lip-Bu Tan must split up Intel 

By Peter Clarke  

What’s at stake:

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Lip-Bu Tan coming to save struggling chip giant Intel Corp. But how? Whatever incoming CEO Tan has communicated to Intel employees, the company’s future cannot be business as usual. One possibility is that Tan was asked by the board if he is the CEO to execute on the existing ‘product-plus-foundry’ strategy and he said “Yes.” I doubt it. It is more likely Tan told the board he would only accept the role if he had complete freedom to operate, including the option to divest Intel’s manufacturing operations. Indeed, the fate of Intel’s manufacturing arm may have been decided even before Tan came on-board.  

Veteran semiconductor executive Lip-Bu Tan has accepted the position of CEO at Intel Corp and is re-joining the board of directors after a six-month absence.  

The highly-regarded Tan now comes back as the permanent CEO to replace Pat Gelsinger, who was ousted in December 2024. The financial markets clearly approved as on the news of Tan’s appointment Intel’s languishing share price popped by 12 percent. 

Since the announcement of Tan’s appointment, many observers have picked up on a sentence in Tan’s message to Intel employees. He said: “Together, we will work hard to restore Intel’s position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry, and delight our customers like never before.” This has been taken as evidence that the ‘product-plus-foundry’ strategy continues at Intel.

I think that is a naïve reading of the situation. There is other evidence to consider. 

Read More »Lip-Bu Tan must split up Intel