Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ansys ANSS.O beat analysts' estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and profit on Wednesday, indicating strength in demand for its artificial intelligence-based tools and engineering software solutions, sending its shares up 2% after the bell.

Simulation software is used by engineers, researchers and chip designers across industries for a quick and effective way to analyze products virtually before their market launch. Adding generative AI into the design process helps users save time and costs.

Ansys, which makes software used in creating products from airplanes to tennis rackets of players such as Novak Djokovic, reported revenue of $882.2 million for the quarter ended December 31.

Analysts, on average, estimated revenue at $863.5 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The Pennsylvania-based company offers AI solutions such as its customer support chatbot AnsysGPT and a cloud-enabled product SimAI, which uses simulation results to assess the performance of a new design within minutes.

Ansys' products compete with Autodesk's ADSK.O Fusion 360, AutoCAD and Dassault Systemes' DAST.PA Solidworks.

Excluding items, the company earned $4.44 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with the estimate of $3.93 per share.

Last month, the European Commission approved Ansys' takeover by chip design software maker Synopsys SNPS.O, with conditions to the $35 billion cash-and-stock deal announced in January 2024.

To relieve competition concerns resulting from the deal, the commission said both companies have agreed to divest Synopsys' optics and photonics software and Ansys' PowerArtist software.

Ansys agreed to sell PowerArtist — a tool used to analyze and reduce power to enable power-efficient design — to electronic equipment maker Keysight Technologies KEYS.N this January.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

((Juby.Babu@thomsonreuters.com))