One-on-One Interview with Sam Mahalingam, Chief Technology Officer, Altair

By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

International Metalworking News for Asia sat down with Sam Mahalingam, Chief Technology Officer of Altair, a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence, at the Realize LIVE 2025 in Detroit. Altair provides cutting-edge technologies in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and data analytics for industries such as automotive, aerospace, electronics, and advanced manufacturing.

This conversation took place just weeks after Siemens completed its acquisition of Altair, marking a transformative moment for both companies. Sam Mahalingam offers exclusive insights into Altair’s next chapter—discussing how AI is being embedded into simulation tools, the company’s strategy for seamless cloud adoption, and how the Siemens integration will accelerate the vision of unified multiphysics simulation and smarter digital engineering.

IMNA: During your presentation, you mentioned embedding AI models directly into simulation tools like SimSolid and visualisation platforms. How do you balance this seamless integration with the need for explainability and trust in AI-driven design decisions?

Sam Mahalingam: We’ve developed what we call Physics AI, a framework that integrates directly into our simulation platforms such as HyperMesh, Inspire, and SimSolid. These tools serve both the design and analysis communities. What makes Physics AI unique is that it doesn’t require vast amounts of training data. It recognises geometry, materials, and boundary conditions as core inputs—essential features for performing physics-based simulation in 3D environments.

Once a user loads a model, the AI evaluates how much historical simulation data is needed to build a predictive model. Often, it only takes 7 to 10 prior simulations, and this training can happen directly on the desktop—no need for cloud infrastructure. The model also reports its prediction confidence level, providing transparency and building user trust.

For enterprises with large historical data sets, our Altair One platform allows models to be trained on high-performance computing clusters and published into a central enterprise catalog. When a user starts a new project, they can check if any relevant AI models are available and immediately use them. This hybrid approach—local, on-premises, or cloud-based—makes AI adoption frictionless for our customers.

IMNA: What’s the current status and vision for integration between Altair and Siemens following the acquisition?

Sam Mahalingam: We’re still early in the process—just around 60 days since the deal closed—but we’ve already begun integration planning. As Tony from Siemens said earlier, we’re in the "honeymoon phase." We’re holding deep-dives to align product portfolios, organisational structures, and go-to-market strategies.

Altair products will eventually be integrated under the Simcenter umbrella. However, we’re preserving brand recognition for flagship tools like HyperMesh, which will be renamed Simcenter HyperMesh, and OptiStruct, which will become Simcenter OptiStruct. Maintaining these identities is crucial for continuity with our customer base while delivering added value through Siemens’ broader simulation ecosystem.

IMNA: Would you describe the integration between Altair and Siemens as incremental or transformational?

Sam Mahalingam: It’s transformational, especially in the automotive and transportation sectors. Our simulation portfolios complement each other beautifully. Siemens’ STAR-CCM+ leads in CFD, while Altair brings ultraFluidX and lattice Boltzmann methods—together, we now have a complete toolkit that can even handle aeroacoustics.

In electromagnetics, we combine Siemens’ tools with Altair’s FEKO, Flux, and FluxMotor to cover both high and low-frequency applications, including motor design. We’re also merging efforts in battery design, combining Siemens’ battery simulation expertise with Altair’s structural and thermal modeling capabilities through OptiStruct and SimLab.

Long term, we’re working toward a unified simulation platform based on the concept of "one model, one solver, all physics." Regardless of the method—finite element, volume, or difference—we want users to simulate everything from within a single framework.

IMNA: What does this integration mean for Altair’s EDA and PCB simulation tools?

Sam Mahalingam: Before the acquisition, we recognised the growing importance of mechatronics and began investing in EDA tools. We acquired simulation platforms for PCB signal and power integrity, EMI/EMC, and design-for-manufacturability.

Siemens already has a strong EDA portfolio, so we plan to integrate our assets strategically. For instance, our analog simulator HyperSpice may merge into Siemens' mature offerings, while a recent acquisition—an advanced digital simulator from Canada—will be aligned with Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics). The goal is to let the best teams and technologies from both sides come together, offering complete electronic system design solutions.

IMNA: What’s the biggest challenge for engineering teams in adopting cloud-based HPC for simulation and AI?

Sam Mahalingam: For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), adoption is straightforward. They’ve been early adopters of our virtual appliances—initially physical racks with pre-installed Altair HPC and simulation software, later offered entirely through the cloud.

Interestingly, larger enterprises often struggle more due to procurement delays and security concerns. Take Lucid Motors, for example: they needed simulation infrastructure for their Gravity EV program, but were told it would take six months to provision the necessary hardware. They turned to us, and within 15 days, they were up and running with our virtual appliance on Google Cloud Platform.

While many large enterprises are still cautious about moving IP-sensitive workloads to the cloud, they're using it more for pre-design, R&D, and burst capacity. Meanwhile, SMEs have embraced cloud simulation from day one.

IMNA: Will Siemens’ acquisition affect Altair’s partner and reseller network?

Sam Mahalingam: We don’t expect major disruptions. Both Altair and Siemens have strong partner ecosystems. Siemens has greater scale in many regions, and we’ll look at integration opportunities on a city-by-city, country-by-country basis. If there are overlapping partners, we’ll make strategic decisions. But overall, the aim is to strengthen—not displace—our reseller and distribution networks.

IMNA: Earlier, you mentioned RapidMiner. What other platforms are typically compared to it?

Sam Mahalingam: RapidMiner, which has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for the second year running, is often compared with platforms like Dataiku and Palantir. These are commonly evaluated alongside us in data science and machine learning applications.