CAD archive
value calculator.
What are your CAD files worth to AI companies? Answer a few questions about your archive and see how it compares with published buyer requirements, which part of the published $45K to $1.3M range it most likely sits in, and what would move it up.
A rough guide built from published requirements.
The calculator turns your answers into a score out of 100, using the requirements an AI data buyer program publishes for CAD and engineering data. The same program publishes a range of $45K to $1.3M for CAD assemblies, circuit designs and test results from companies with 20 to 2,000 staff (Mercor: Monetize your data). That is a published range, not a closed deal, and the calculator shows only which part of it your answers point to: lower, middle or upper. It is a rough guide, not an offer or an appraisal. The figure for your company comes from the free valuation.
Points come from six answers. The CAD system counts because native files with feature history carry the most weight: SolidWorks PDM, Creo with Windchill and NX with Teamcenter keep full history and revisions, Fusion, Onshape and Altium or KiCad keep native history in their own formats, and an unknown or mixed system scores lowest until the files are checked. Assembly count carries the most points, because buyers want multi-part products rather than single parts or catalogues. Unique parts add a little. Years of revision history matter because buyers ask for several product generations, not only the latest release. Each linked record adds points, because a design tied to its change orders, drawings, simulations, test results and quality records shows why it changed, not only what it looks like. Ownership adds the rest.
Some answers decide the tier on their own. If few designs are yours, if most of the archive is export-controlled, if the company has fewer than 20 or more than 2,000 staff, or if there are no multi-part assemblies, the result is “Not yet a fit” whatever the score, because the published requirements leave those cases out. If ownership is about half, or nobody has checked export control, the result stops at “Possible fit” until that is resolved.
What buyers ask for
Published buyer requirements name native multi-part assemblies with feature trees, drawings and bills of materials, PCB designs and Gerber files, FEA and CFD simulation, and physical test results. They name automotive suppliers, aerospace, robotics, industrial equipment, product design consultancies, and EV and drone makers as the companies they want to hear from. What makes an archive useful for training AI is the link between intent and result: a design, the change that followed a failed test, and the revision that fixed it. The CAD licensing guide covers each record type and the systems buyers name.
What lowers value
Exported meshes and STEP files lose the feature history buyers look for. A parts catalogue or a folder of single parts shows shapes without the product around them. A short history shows one generation instead of how a design team learns. Rights problems cut deepest: designs owned by customers, purchased part libraries and supplier models are not yours to license, and firmware can carry open-source terms that travel with it. Export-controlled technical data has to come out before anything is shared. The ITAR and EAR checklist walks through that review. This page gives general information, not legal advice.
The three suggestions under your result are the changes that would add the most points. Many of them cost nothing: counting assemblies, confirming ownership in your contracts, or finding the change-order log that already sits beside your vault.
Get my valuationQuestions about the calculator.
What are my CAD files worth to AI companies?
A buyer program publishes a range of $45K to $1.3M for CAD assemblies, circuit designs and test results from companies with 20 to 2,000 staff. That is a published range, not a closed deal. Where an archive sits depends on native files, assembly count, years of history, linked records and ownership. The free valuation gives a figure for your company.
Does the calculator send or store my answers?
No. The result is worked out in your browser by a fixed set of rules. Nothing you enter is sent to Origin, saved in browser storage or attached when you follow a link. Reloading the page clears your answers.
Why does the calculator not show a dollar figure for my company?
A fair figure needs a look at what the archive actually holds and what a buyer will accept, which a short form cannot do. The calculator shows only which part of the published range your answers point to. Origin gives a company-specific figure through the free valuation.
Can I include designs I made for customers?
Usually not. Published buyer requirements exclude designs owned by customers, which often rules out build-to-print work. Your own products, fixtures, tooling and test methods may still qualify. Check your contracts first; the calculator lowers the result when ownership is unclear.
What happens to export-controlled files?
They stay out. ITAR technical data and EAR-controlled technology need an export review before anything leaves the company, and sharing with foreign-national staff at a buyer can count as an export. A partly controlled archive can still qualify once those files are removed. This is general information, not legal advice.