SAN JOSE, CA, Apr 18, 2025 – Cadence has reached an agreement with Arm to acquire Arm’s Artisan foundation IP business. This business includes standard cell libraries, memory compilers, and general-purpose I/Os (GPIOs) optimized for advanced process nodes at leading foundries. The transaction will enhance Cadence’s expanding design IP offerings, which include protocol and interface IP, memory interface IP, SerDes IP at advanced nodes, and embedded security IP from the pending Secure-IC acquisition.
By increasing its footprint in SoC designs, Cadence has committed to accelerating customers’ time to market and optimizing their cost, power, and performance on the world’s foundry processes. Cadence will acquire the Arm Artisan foundation IP business through an asset purchase agreement, along with a concurrent technology license agreement to be signed at closing and subject to any existing rights. As part of the acquisition, Cadence will bring in a knowledgeable engineering team. This team will help speed up work on both current and future IP products.
“During its 25-year history, Arm’s Artisan IP has established a strong presence and reputation in the global ecosystem of foundries and SoC partners. With the expected addition of the Artisan IP business and team, Cadence will enter the foundation IP market, enabling us to capitalize on new growth opportunities,” said Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the silicon solutions group at Cadence. “In doing so, we will gain key technology and expertise to augment our design services and chiplet offerings, enabling us to deliver on our comprehensive IP strategy and provide greater value to our customers. By leveraging the full Cadence stack of IP, libraries, tools, and services, we strive to improve PPA while growing this foundation IP business.”
“We are committed to ensuring that the foundational physical IP needed to deploy Arm technology across all markets continues to be available to the ecosystem,” said Kevork Kechichian, executive vice president, solutions engineering, Arm. “The Artisan brand is well established and we believe this technology will continue to play a significant role in the semiconductor industry in the future, and that Cadence is an ideal partner to take it forward.”
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The acquisition is not expected to have an impact on revenue or earnings this year.
Source: Cadence
About Cadence
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is a U.S.-based technology company specializing in electronic design automation (EDA) software, hardware, and intellectual property (IP) solutions. Founded in 1988 through the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Cadence is headquartered in San Jose, CA. The company serves industries such as semiconductors, automotive, aerospace and defense, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Cadence’s offerings include tools for designing integrated circuits, systems on chips (SoCs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), and complete electronic systems. As of 2024, Cadence reported annual revenue of approximately $4.64 billion and employed around 12,703 people worldwide. The company’s comprehensive solutions support the development of advanced electronic products across various sectors.
About Arm
Arm Holdings plc is a British semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Established in 1990, Arm specializes in designing central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and system-on-chip (SoC) architectures. The company’s intellectual property (IP) is licensed across various industries including mobile devices, automotive, consumer electronics, and data centers. Arm’s technology is integral to the operation of most smartphones and numerous embedded systems worldwide. As of March 31, 2024, Arm reported annual revenue of approx. $3.25 billion and employed approx. 7,100 people globally. The company’s business model focuses on licensing its IP to semiconductor companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), enabling them to develop their own products.