Supply Chain

A Global Citizen

Ensuring transparency in our supply chain.

Responsible Business Alliance

As a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), Synopsys fully supports the vision and mission of the RBA.

RBA Vision: A global electronics industry that creates sustainable value for workers, the environment, and business.
RBA Mission: Members, suppliers and stakeholders collaborate to improve working and environmental conditions through leading standards and practices.

We are committed to the alignment of our operations with the provisions of the RBA Code of Conduct and to the adoption of the RBA approach and tools, where possible. Moreover, we encourage our first-tier suppliers to do the same.

Conflict Minerals Policy

Integrity is one of Synopsys’ core values. We believe that running our business with integrity includes supply chain management. As a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), Synopsys is committed to aligning its operations with the provisions of the RBA Code of Conduct.

Although we are primarily a software company, we also offer a limited number of hardware products. Like many companies in the semiconductor industry, we are concerned by reports that trade in minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries (the DRC region) may be funding violent militias that have committed atrocities in those countries. These minerals include tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold, each of which is often used in semiconductors.

In 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that require publicly-traded companies to disclose the use of conflict minerals originating from the DRC region in their products. The rules currently define “conflict minerals” as coltan, cassiterite, wolframite and gold, and their derivatives, which include tin, tantalum and tungsten.

Synopsys fully complies with Section 1502 and the SEC rules, and we are committed to working with our direct suppliers to reasonably assure that the conflict minerals in the products we manufacture do not directly or indirectly benefit armed groups that perpetrate serious human rights abuses in the DRC region.
We expect our direct suppliers to assist us in our ongoing compliance and due diligence efforts. We have implemented a conflict minerals due diligence program that is based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s “Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas,” that incorporates the standards set forth in this policy, and that leverages the reporting template created by the Responsible Minerals Initiative.

Form SD & Conflict Minerals Report

UK Modern Slavery Act Statement

Fiscal Year 2019

About Synopsys

Synopsys is a global leader in providing software, intellectual property, and services used by designers along the entire silicon to software spectrum, from engineers creating advanced semiconductors to software developers seeking to ensure the quality and security of their products. We supply electronic design automation software that engineers use to design and test integrated circuits, also known as chips. We also offer intellectual property (IP) products, which are pre-designed circuits that engineers use as components of larger chip designs instead of designing those circuits themselves. We provide software and hardware used to develop the electronic systems that incorporate chips and the software that runs on them. To complement these offerings, which are sold primarily to semiconductor and electronics companies, we provide technical services to support our solutions and help our customers develop chips and electronic systems. We are also a leading provider of software tools that developers use to improve the quality and security of software code in a wide variety of industries, including electronics, financial services, energy, and industrials.

Although we are primarily a software, IP, and service provider, we also offer hardware systems that engineers can use to simulate the chips they are in the process of designing. This allows engineers to test and verify the behavior of chips, or begin to develop software for them, before the chips have been manufactured.

Slavery and Human Trafficking

The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires certain businesses to provide disclosures concerning their efforts to address the issues of slavery and human trafficking in their supply chains. This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement of Synopsys (Northern Europe) Limited for the financial year ending November 2, 2019. This statement was approved by the Directors of Synopsys (Northern Europe) Limited on June 16, 2020, and also by the Directors of Synopsys, Inc. on June 18, 2020.

A key element of Synopsys' success is our strong set of core values: Integrity, Execution Excellence, and Leadership. Our core values reflect our commitment to ethical business practices, including conducting operations that are free from human trafficking and forced labor.

Synopsys maintains a number of policies and practices to manage our supply chain in an ethical and socially responsible way.

The Code of Ethics and Business Conduct is our roadmap for doing business the right way. We do business the right way when we act ethically and consistently with our core value of integrity, our Code, our policies, and all applicable law. The Code specifically states that Synopsys does not tolerate the use of human trafficking or forced labor, including child labor, in our operations or in our supply chain.
The Business Partner Code of Conduct (“Partner Code”) is the roadmap for Synopsys Business Partners to do business the right way. By conducting business with Synopsys, each Business Partner agrees to comply with the Partner Code and to maintain the highest ethical standards under any and all circumstances.
Synopsys’ supplier contracts require the suppliers to comply with our policies and cooperate with our efforts to verify compliance. We expect our direct suppliers in our hardware supply chain to also abide by the Synopsys Supplier Code of Conduct (“Supplier Code”).
The Whistleblower Hotline is available to anyone and is a dedicated resource for reporting ethics and compliance concerns or suspected violations.
Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") at Synopsys delivers social, economic, and environmental benefits for our stakeholders by translating our company values into action. Our CSR priority areas – which include supply chain – is overseen by a cross-functional CSR Leadership Committee comprised of senior-level leaders from across our business who report out to the Synopsys Board of Directors.
In February 2020, Synopsys published our fiscal year 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which included a section on supply chain management. This was our first Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

In fiscal year 2019, we undertook the following actions in support of the Act:

Synopsys became a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”). The RBA is the world’s largest industry coalition devoted to Corporate Social Responsibility in global supply chains. Synopsys participates in RBA conferences and receives regular RBA communication to ensure an informed company approach to supply chain responsibility and uncover actionable insights.
Synopsys published its Supplier Code for all direct Tier 1 suppliers, i.e., those in our supply chain that provide the goods and materials we incorporate into our hardware products. Based on the RBA Code of Conduct, the Supplier Code sets forth minimum requirements for ethical conduct including the issue of forced labor. The Supplier Code was sent to all direct Tier 1 suppliers, who were then asked to acknowledge receipt.
To better manage potential supply chain risks, Synopsys improved the vetting of new suppliers in our procurement processes in 2019.
Synopsys continues to evaluate company processes and procedures to optimize efforts to preclude the use of slavery and human trafficking in our supply chain.