Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has taken a multi-billion-dollar stake in electronic design automation (EDA) firm Synopsys.

The investment was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a source that claimed Elliott is planning to push the company to make more money from its software and sales.

DCD has confirmed the accuracy of the report.

“Synopsys is essential to the global chip industry. As AI drives a step change in chip complexity and capital investment, Synopsys is uniquely positioned to benefit from this growth,” said Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn in a statement.

“Given the essential nature of its platform and these structural tailwinds, we believe there is a clear opportunity for Synopsys’s financial performance to more fully reflect the value it delivers. We look forward to engaging with the company to help align operational execution, profitability, and monetization with its potential and importance to the semiconductor ecosystem.”

DCD has reached out to Synopsys for comment.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, Synopsys provides tools and services to support the design of electronic components on semiconductors and verify that hardware works as intended. Its customers include AMD, Arm, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, TSMC, and Nvidia, the latter of which announced in December 2025 plans to invest $2 billion in Synopsys through a common stock purchase, as part of a multi-year deal between the two companies to boost AI chip engineering and design.

Earlier this month, Synopsys unveiled a host of new AI-powered design, verification, and simulation solutions that president and CEO Sassine Ghazi said would deliver “next-generation AI-powered products.”

Two months prior, the company announced it had sold its processor IP solutions business to GlobalFoundries (GF) for an undisclosed amount, saying the sale would allow the EDA company to focus on extending its leadership in interface and foundation IP and pursue the “highest-value, AI-driven opportunities from cloud to Edge.”