Synopsys Adds Elliott’s Jesse Cohn to Board

Synopsys reached a cooperation agreement with Elliott Investment Management that will add Jesse Cohn to its board, expanding the board from 10 to 11 directors. Cohn will take a seat on the corporate governance and nominating committee.

The agreement follows several weeks of discussions after Elliott accumulated a multi-billion-dollar stake in Synopsys earlier this year. Synopsys shares have risen about 20% since Elliott’s involvement became public.

Elliott, which manages roughly $80 billion in assets, confirmed Cohn’s appointment. Cohn described Synopsys as “a critical player within the semiconductor ecosystem,” citing demand tied to artificial intelligence and increasing chip design complexity.

Synopsys is a California-based provider of electronic design automation software and semiconductor intellectual property, with a market value near $100 billion. Its customers include Nvidia, AMD, Tesla and Alphabet. Together with Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys leads the EDA market.

Elliott has pressed Synopsys to improve profitability and execution to narrow the company’s margin gap with Cadence. Analysts note that Synopsys shares have trailed the broader semiconductor sector since the AI-driven rally that began in late 2022.

Sassine Ghazi became chief executive in early 2024, succeeding co-founder Aart de Geus, who now serves as executive chair. De Geus welcomed Cohn’s appointment and pointed to Cohn’s experience as an investor and public company director.

Cohn is a managing partner at Elliott and serves on the firm’s investment committee. His past board roles include positions at Twitter prior to its acquisition, and at Citrix, eBay and athenahealth.

Industry forecasts project global semiconductor sales to top $1 trillion in 2026 after record revenues in 2025. Synopsys has highlighted product development and customer partnerships as part of its plan to address rising demand tied to AI and more complex chip designs.