Co-Optimization utilizing Symbolic Execution (COSE) works across components of an embedded design to optimize structures therein. COSE utilizes symbolic execution (SE) to analyze software components and defines a limited set of values that software feeds hardware as constraints. SE explores substantially all possible paths of execution of the code specifying a component. It accomplishes this by accumulating path conditions (PCs) and annotating them to the corresponding segments of the component. A PC is associated with a branch of code and consists of the conjunction of conditions over input and state variables necessary and sufficient for the branch to execute. These PCs define constraints that limit the set of values that software feeds hardware. These constraints are then propagated across the networks of the design and employ static analysis techniques such as constant propagation, redundancy removal, and don't care optimizations to reduce the hardware components.