How technically difficult would it be to create a competitor to Synopsys and Cadence? I'm not talking about their entrenched positions in the market, but just the technology itself. What makes it so technically challenging to create a comparable tool?

Everyone is looking for a total solution, and building an end-to-end solution with all these steps is nearly impossible. It could take a decade or 15 years to develop. There are very few EDA engineers available, as most are moving into AI. While AI is needed here too, there are fewer semiconductor and EDA engineers. Those at Cadence and Synopsys are special because they know both software and hardware, including chip design. Not many people have this expertise. Therefore, acquiring the resources to build a competitive tool is non-trivial and almost very difficult, which is why you don't see many competitors to Synopsys and Cadence.