Republic of Korea: Korea Fair Trade Commission announced conditional approval of Synopsys's proposed merger with ANSYS

On 28 March 2025, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) issued a conditional approval of the proposed merger between Synopsys, Inc. (Synopsys) and ANSYS, Inc. (ANSYS), both global suppliers of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software used in semiconductor chip design. In particular, the merger involves Synopsys acquiring 100% of ANSYS's shares, valued at approximately KRW 45.9 trillion (about USD 35 billion). The KFTC conducted a review process, gathering opinions from various domestic and foreign stakeholders, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, LG Electronics, LX Semicon, Apple, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and SONY. The focus of the review was on the potential for the merger to limit competition in three key areas: software for register transmission level power consumption analysis, optical product design software, and photonics product design software. These areas represent overlapping business interests between Synopsys and ANSYS, resulting in a horizontal combination. The approval comes with conditions to address these competition concerns, ensuring that the merger does not negatively impact the market for semiconductor chip design software.