Synopsys Ups Guidance, Despite Chip Market’s ‘Normal Ebb and Flow’

Design activity in the semiconductor industry remains robust, notwithstanding the market’s “normal ebb and flow,” said Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q3 ended July 31. The provider of electronic design automation services was one of the few tech companies in recent quarters to upgrade its forecast, saying it now expects revenue of $5.06 billion to $5.09 billion for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31. At the high end of the range, revenue would be $90 billion higher than in the May 18 forecast. The guidance assumes no further changes in the Commerce Department’s entity list of export restrictions, said the company. Semiconductors “have transformed every aspect of our world” over the past five decades, said de Geus. “As a result, not only does the world demand more chips, but more chips are being designed by an expanded group of semiconductor and systems companies,” he said. “Those chips are much more complex. They need to be designed faster due to time-to-market pressure and with increasingly constrained engineering talent resources.” Demand is “particularly high” in markets such as high-performance computing, AI and machine learning, automotive and mobile, “where systems are fueled by smart everything, high-speed and secure connectivity and advanced process geometries,” he said.