Founding Altair Engineering was founded in 1985 by James R. Scapa, George Christ, and Mark Kistner in Troy, Michigan. Since the company's outset, Scapa has served as its CEO (and now chairman). Initially, Altair started as an engineering consulting firm, but branched out into product development and
computer-aided engineering (CAE) software. In the 1990s, it became known for its software products like HyperWorks, OptiStruct, and HyperMesh, which were often used for product development by the automotive industry. Some of Altair's early clients included the
Ford Motor Company,
General Motors, Its software also aided in the development of the
Young America and
AmericaOne racing yachts,
aviation (
Airbus), adding those locales to its international footprint alongside
India where it had begun investment in 1992. In October of that year,
General Atlantic invested $30 million in Altair. Also in 2004, Altair partnered with
General Motors and the
United States Department of Defense on the design and construction of a new military vehicle. Altair also branched out into the
life sciences,
finance, and
pharmaceutical industries with its
high performance computing software, PBS Professional, In June 2006, Altair acquired the French CAE software company, Mecalog, and its Radioss technology suite. designed to be used as direct replacements for fluorescent light tubes. Ilumisys' operations were moved to Michigan in 2011, and it was rebranded as Toggled in 2012. In the early 2010s, Altair's product design division (Altair ProductDesign) began creating prototypes of various vehicles including a
hydraulic hybrid transit bus known as BUSolution and an
electric concept car called the Avant GT. By 2013, the company had offices in 19 countries worldwide and 1,800 employees. That year, it also bought out
General Atlantic's equity stake in the company. In 2016, Altair acquired
Solid Iris Technologies. The company developed a photorealistic rendering and visualization tool named
Thea Render. By bringing this technology in-house, additional Solid Iris rendering capabilities were added to Altairs technologies. On November 1, 2017, Altair went public with an IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange and began trading under the stock ticker symbol ALTR. The company raised $156 million with share prices starting at $13. By 2019, the company had acquired a total of 30 businesses. It also began making efforts to incorporate
artificial intelligence technology into its new software packages.
2020s In June 2020, the company announced that it would be providing software updates for all of its products. The updates were implemented to improve workflows and provide access to a broader set of tools for
data analytics,
machine learning, and
physics. In January 2021, Altair announced that it would collaborate with
Rolls-Royce Holdings on a project using AI and machine learning to improve the aero jet engine design process. In November 2021, Altair's PBS Professional workload manager was selected by the
Argonne National Laboratory to be used across the organization's high performance computing (HPC) systems, including the Polaris and Aurora
supercomputers. That same month, Altair was also included on
Inc. Magazine's 2021 Best-Led Companies list. In December, Altair was named as one of
Investor's Business Daily's Best 100 ESG Companies. In March 2023, Altair rebranded its AI and data analytics product now known as Altair RapidMiner. In May 2023, the US Court of Appeals issued a favorable ruling in a copyright infringement case pertaining to SAS software. In October 2023, Altair acquired OmniQuest, a software company out of Novi, Michigan, to further its optimization technology. On October 30, 2024, Altair announced its agreement to be acquired by Siemens. The acquisition was finalized in March 2025, with Altair integrated into the
Siemens Digital Industries division. ==Corporate acquisitions==