Analyst(s): Olivier Blanchard
Publication Date: June 11, 2025
Plug and Play has partnered with Synopsys to support semiconductor startups with access to professional-grade chip design tools. The collaboration aims to reduce development costs and time-to-market for early-stage chipmakers entering the high-barrier AI hardware space.
What is Covered in this Article:
- Synopsys to provide chip design tools to Plug and Play-backed startups
- Partnership aims to reduce time-to-market and upfront development costs
- Plug and Play expands technical depth and support for its semiconductor program
- Program gives global startups access to mentoring, pilots, and VC opportunities
The News: Plug and Play, the tech incubator based in Silicon Valley, has announced that it has inked a partnership with Synopsys to offer more backing for semiconductor startups. As part of the alliance, Synopsys will offer qualified startups availability to its design solutions and software licenses.
The partnership is intended to assist startups in cutting the early-stage design cost and development time, and to enable them to more quickly bring innovation to market. This action complements the company’s 2023 sold-out Plug and Play Semiconductor program and supports Synopsys’ mission to drive silicon innovation.
Synopsys Collaboration Expands Startup Access to Chip Design Tools
Analyst Take: Lowering entry barriers in early chip design
The partnership serves two simultaneous purposes: 1) enhancing Plug and Play’s capabilities to support early-stage chip innovation, and 2) further establishing Synopsys as a preferred facilitator of startup success. The partnership is an important step forward in overcoming some of the structural challenges faced by semiconductor startups, particularly high upfront costs.
Semiconductor startups often have to deal with high software expense constraints during the early phase of development, with “professional-grade” EDA tools (including those from Synopsys) usually being out of financial reach. This partnership opens up startup access to top-tier design right at the outset of their journey with no upfront equity or cost requirements, eliminating a major hurdle to innovation.
While Plug and Play provides both network access and a growth turbo booster, Synopsys will be providing the technical infrastructure that enables advanced chip design. Using Synopsys’ design tools, Plug and Play-backed startups will now be able to mitigate otherwise high development costs and long chip design cycles. The partnership also extends the reach of both parties, with Synopsys enjoying early access to promising new startups and Plug and Play finding itself better equipped to offer these startups more valuable technical support.
Expanding reach across deep tech sectors and driving global startup participation and scale
Plug and Play’s scope spans high-growth sectors like smart cities, healthcare, and quantum computing. With Synopsys standing to gain access to a deeper pipeline of tech startups (some of which may be developing the next wave of leading-edge applications), the partnership offers the company unprecedented visibility into adjacent areas of innovation before they scale, opening up an entirely new pipeline of partnerships early in the innovation cycle.
The newest cohort of 150+ startups in Plug and Play’s 2025-to-2026 program marks its first semiconductor graduation class, with 87 percent of those startups being located outside of Silicon Valley. Note that by embedding Synopsys tools all over this diverse, global group, the partnership also expands its relevance outside of the US. Its swift 3-month program format also helps increase the probability of maintaining focus and being able to convert an early idea to a product (or partnerships) quicker.
What to Watch:
- The degree to which access to Synopsys tools helps reduce chip startup failure rates
- Whether other design tool providers partner with accelerators to retain relevance among upstarts
- Plug and Play’s ability to sustain technical support across diverse global startup needs
- The impact of this partnership on Plug and Play’s attractiveness to investors and corporate partners
See the full press release on the Plug and Play and Synopsys collaboration on the Plug and Play website.
Disclosure: Futurum is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum as a whole.
Other insights from Futurum:
Can Synopsys and NVIDIA Redefine Chip Design Timelines with 30x Speed Gains?
Synopsys Q2 FY 2025 Results Show AI-Led Growth, Design IP Surge
Synopsys Introduces New HAV Tools to Address Growing SoC Design Complexity
Author Information
Research Director Olivier Blanchard covers edge semiconductors and intelligent AI-capable devices for Futurum. In addition to having co-authored several books about digital transformation and AI with Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman, Blanchard brings considerable experience demystifying new and emerging technologies, advising clients on how best to future-proof their organizations, and helping maximize the positive impacts of technology disruption while mitigating their potentially negative effects. Follow his extended analysis on X and LinkedIn.
