The Synopsys and Ansys licensing transition describes how licence delivery for Ansys products is being aligned with Synopsys systems. Ansys is now part of Synopsys, as recorded in the wiki’s acquisitions list, and the Synopsys support pages treat the Ansys products in two groups: Ansys Semiconductor (EDA) products, whose licensing is moving to Synopsys tooling, and all other Ansys products, which keep the Ansys licence manager and portal. A software asset manager with both Synopsys and Ansys entitlements needs to know which group a product falls in, because the licence file format, the daemon, the download site and the ordering channel differ between them. This article reports what Synopsys states and does not replace the customer’s agreements.
Which terms apply
The wiki’s Ansys articles describe the Ansys General Terms and Conditions, product codes, task licences and web licensing; see Ansys licensing and its companions. Nothing on the Synopsys pages reviewed changes those contractual terms. The Synopsys pages describe delivery, tooling and ordering. The pages say expressly that “there are no changes to the licensing Bill of Features; your licensed product numbers and feature names will remain the same”, and that there is no required update to new tool versions because there are no licensing-related changes to the Ansys Semiconductor tools themselves, only the licence server daemon and file format.[1] The Ansys licence types published on the Ansys site, now on a Synopsys domain, are unchanged in kind: concurrent licensing on an annual or perpetual basis, Shared Web, Named User, and Elastic pay-per-use for software, computing power and Ansys Cloud hardware.[5]
Stage one: separate delivery of Ansys Semiconductor files
The first stage moved delivery, not format. Licence files for Ansys Semiconductor products migrate to the Synopsys key retrieval system, SmartKeys, and the files downloaded from SmartKeys “will be separate from other Synopsys license files and will remain compatible with the Ansys License Manager and daemon (ansyslmd).”[2] The change does not affect Ansys non-Semiconductor licences, and Ansys Semiconductor and non-Semiconductor licences are delivered in separate files, which the Ansys License Manager can load from the same directory.[2] The Synopsys QuickStart states the corresponding rule for SCL users: Ansys licence files do not use SCL but continue to use the ansyslmd daemon, and the Ansys keys are not to be integrated with the SCL keys.[3]
Orders follow a similar split. Ansys Semiconductor products in a standalone Flexible Spending Account contract “are now drawn down through the Synopsys Customer Self Service (CSS) website”, with keys generated by SmartKeys and an e-mail sent to the ordering user. For a commingled FSA covering both Semiconductor and non-Semiconductor products, the customer continues to draw down through the Ansys Licensing Portal and receives two licence files, the Semiconductor file by SmartKeys and the other file immediately from the portal; both must be installed in the same directory of the Ansys License Manager.[4] Flexible Spending Account ordering is by default limited to the super user named in the contract, who may delegate to other SolvNetPlus users for the same Site ID.[4]
Stage two: migration to SCL on 2026-12-07
The second stage changes the format and the daemon. Synopsys states that SCL “is a single combined vendor daemon (snpslmd) that replaces ansyslmd and other legacy Ansys license daemons” for Ansys Semiconductor (EDA) products, and that “the license file format of Ansys Semiconductor licenses will change to the Synopsys CVD license file format that is compatible only with the Synopsys Common Licensing (SCL) snpslmd daemon”, effective December 7, 2026.[1] The migration is triggered by events and not by a single deadline: on or after the date, the customer must migrate “when your current keys expire, or when you re-mix, purchase, evaluate, or re-host” Ansys Semiconductor products.[1] A customer whose keys run beyond the date can stay on ansyslmd until one of those events, while a customer that buys, evaluates or re-hosts must move at once. Synopsys says it will send reminders two months, one month and seven days before the release.[1]
What changes on the server
- Daemon and version. The ansyslmd daemon is replaced by snpslmd, version 2026.12 or later, and SCL 2026.12 uses FlexNet 11.19.10.[1]
- No co-hosting. “The Ansys ansyslmd daemon and the Synopsys CVD snpslmd daemon cannot run on the same machine”; older licences that must stay running go on a separate machine. SCL 2026.12 “will not start if ansyslmd or another legacy Ansys daemon is running”, and the legacy daemons named are ansyslmd, apacheda, hclmd and ansoftd.[1]
- Hostname. “The Ansys Semiconductor license key file delivered from Synopsys will not contain the hostname.” The SERVER line must be edited to replace hostname1, or the licence server will not start. The hostid is encrypted into each key and cannot be modified.[1]
- One daemon in the VENDOR line. The VENDOR or DAEMON line must refer only to snpslmd, with the path to the 2026.12 daemon.[1]
- Mixed hosts. If keys for other Ansys products sit on the same host, the Synopsys CVD file and the Ansys-format non-Semiconductor file are placed in the same directory with the .lic extension and lmgrd is pointed at the directory, or the files are combined with duplicate SERVER, VENDOR, DAEMON and USE_SERVER lines removed and started with SCL.[1]
- Legacy files. A legacy-format Ansys key file can be used with the SCL server but must not be merged with later Ansys keys in the new CVD format.[1]
Products do not need to be changed or reinstalled: Synopsys says there are no changes to the Semiconductor products themselves, only to the licence server and the key file format, and that the new solution supports new and older Ansys products.[1]
Practical checks for licence managers
- Classify each Ansys product as Semiconductor or non-Semiconductor and record which licence file and daemon serve it.
- Record key expiry dates against the 2026-12-07 date, and note any planned purchase, evaluation, re-mix or re-host that would force migration earlier.
- Identify hosts that run both Ansys and Synopsys daemons, since ansyslmd and snpslmd cannot share a machine.
- Treat the SCL key-file rules as applying to migrated files: only the SERVER and VENDOR lines may be changed, and the hostid cannot be edited.[1]
- Confirm ordering channels: standalone Semiconductor FSA through Synopsys CSS, commingled FSA through the Ansys Licensing Portal.[4]
Out of scope
This article does not cover the Ansys General Terms and Conditions, Ansys Elastic or HPC licensing, the effect of the acquisition on contracts, or beta testing arrangements for SCL 2026.12 beyond noting that Synopsys offers an optional beta through the account manager.