Simulation & design
Testing designs on a computer before building them.
Engineers use simulation to compare designs before building them. Design software defines a vehicle, component or production line; simulation then helps predict how air will flow around it, whether it will overheat or where production might become congested. By testing these questions on a computer, engineers can change a design while that still means editing a file rather than rebuilding a machine.
The same approach can continue after the machine is built. A digital twin connects a model to information about the real machine or building, so engineers can keep learning from how it operates. Companies in this field provide the software or help customers put it to use through training, integration and support.
Market size & opportunity
Within this range of tools, CIMdata estimates global simulation-and-analysis revenue at US$11.67 billion in 2025 and forecasts just over US$12.78 billion in 2026, according to its July 2026 market-report release. Those figures cover the simulation-and-analysis segment rather than all design, construction or product-lifecycle software. They provide context for this part of the business, but cannot simply be added to broader software-market totals.
The reason customers use these tools is practical: testing a design on a computer can reveal problems before physical changes become expensive. Demand therefore comes from the work engineers need to do, whether they are designing a new product, improving a machine or planning a factory.
Market outlook
Simulation and analysis software
Worldwide · US$ billion per year
- 2025Study baseline11.67
- 2030Forecast> 18.3
CIMdata expects simulation and analysis revenue to exceed the 2030 figure shown. The forecast excludes the wider CAD and product-lifecycle software market.
CIMdataForecast published
Recent progress
AI is changing how much computing some of this work requires. Siemens announced Simcenter PhysicsAI on 27 May 2026 to learn from computational-fluid-dynamics results and predict how other shapes will perform. Engineers can use these faster approximations to explore more designs between full simulations. Yet the predictions still need validation, because a new design may fall outside the conditions the model has learned.
NVIDIA’s Omniverse libraries, released in July 2026, also aim to make simulation easier to use. They help developers add sensor simulation, faster physics calculations and checks on 3D models to existing tools. Together, these developments give engineers more ways to explore how a design might behave before testing it in the real world.
Sources
- CIMdata · 2026 market-report release, republished by DailyCADCAM
- Siemens · Simcenter PhysicsAI, May 2026
- NVIDIA · Omniverse simulation libraries, July 2026
Updated
Research & reports
No European Tech Equities reports have been published on this theme yet.