The massive software acquisition will close next year, plus the latest simulation news from Altium, VI-Grade and Ansys.
Siemens’ big bet on AI and simulation
The big simulation news that dropped last week was Siemens’ announcement that it will acquire Altair Engineering for roughly $10 billion USD. Siemens expects the deal to be finalized in the second half of 2025, and until then there will be no changes for current users of Altair’s engineering software.
Siemens has not commented on what these users should expect once the acquisition closes, but in its press release the company said it “expects to achieve significant revenue synergies especially from cross-selling of the highly complementary portfolios and from providing Altair full access to Siemens’ global footprint and global industrial enterprise and customer base.” Siemens says the transaction will increase its digital business revenue by 8%.
“The addition of Altair’s capabilities in simulation, high performance computing, data science, and artificial intelligence together with Siemens Xcelerator will create the world’s most complete AI-powered design and simulation portfolio,” said Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG, in the company’s press release.
For more on this story, read: Siemens’ Altair play: strategic AI move or simulation catch-up?
Altium to debut new industry solutions at Electronica 2024
Altium announced that it will introduce three “transformative product offerings” at the upcoming Electronica 2024 conference taking place November 12 to 15 in Munich, Germany. Those offerings include Altium Discover, Altium Develop and Altium Lifecycle.
Altium Discover, which Altium calls the highlight of the new offerings, is “a trust-based, cloud-based industry solution that enables seamless collaboration across… semiconductor vendors, distributors, and product developers [who] can securely share information and work together in real time,” according to Altium’s press release.
Altium Develop, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), will “unify electronics, mechanical, and software design in a single workflow,” and Altium Lifecycle “provides enterprises with comprehensive lifecycle control, ensuring precise management throughout the product journey,” according to Altium.
VI-Grade launches 2025.1 updates
VI-Grade announced the 2025.1 release of its flagship vehicle simulation products VI-CarRealTime, VI-WorldSim, VI-NVHSim and VI-DriveSim. According to VI-Grade’s launch announcement, these are major updates that “deliver enhanced performance, new functionalities, and broader compatibility, further strengthening VI-grade’s commitment to supporting its customers in creating better virtual prototypes and accelerating vehicle development cycles.” The 2025.1 versions of the software are currently available for download.
