ANSYS, the global leader and innovator of engineering simulation software, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Helic, the industry-leading provider of electromagnetic crosstalk solutions for systems on chips (SoCs).

The acquisition of Helic, combined with ANSYS' flagship electromagnetic and semiconductor solvers, will provide a comprehensive solution for on-chip, 3D integrated circuit and chip-package-system electromagnetics and noise analysis.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. Management will provide further details regarding the transaction and its impact on the 2019 financial outlook after the closing.  

Megatrends like 5G, artificial intelligence and cloud computing are driving more complex semiconductor chip design, including the increased use of on-chip signal frequencies past 2 gigahertz (GHz) and complex multiple silicon die in a single package. These increasingly complex designs often lead to electromagnetic crosstalk, when unwanted interference caused by electric and magnetic fields of one signal interferes with another signal.

Helic's solutions help top semiconductor companies debug and analyze electromagnetic crosstalk issues in their advanced SoC designs and reduce the risk of silicon failure. When combined with ANSYS' solutions for electromagnetics and power-integrity noise analysis, engineers can deploy an electromagnetic-aware design methodology to design devices in all advanced nodes, optimize the die size and precisely capture electromagnetic and parasitic effects from direct current up to 110 GHz.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Helic has more than 50 employees, including locations in Greece, Japan and Ireland. Its comprehensive product suite includes electromagnetic modeling and simulation for highly complex circuits for sub-10 nanometer technologies.

Helic products have been successfully deployed by worldwide customers in applications ranging from radio-frequency wireless transceivers, graphics processing units, high-speed I/Os in multi-core processors and image sensors and other internet of things connected devices.

"Electromagnetic noise is a key design challenge that is driving the need for extensive on-chip electromagnetic analysis," said John Lee, ANSYS vice president and general manager. "As the leader in multiphysics simulation, ANSYS already has the leading electromagnetic and semiconductor solutions on the market. This acquisition brings Helic's, industry leading on-chip electromagnetic solutions into the ANSYS family – complementing our leadership in power integrity noise analysis and helping our customers address the market needs driven by 5G, AI and cloud computing."

"Helic is thrilled to become part of the ANSYS family. This acquisition will bring significant benefits to both ANSYS and Helic customers," said Yorgos Koutsoyannopoulos, president and CEO of Helic. "ANSYS customers will gain easy access to on-chip electromagnetics solvers, integrated with the flagship ANSYS electronics and semiconductor tools. Helic customers will benefit from inclusion in the ANSYS platform for multi-physics and chip-package-system."