Cadence announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Arm to acquire Arm’s Artisan foundation IP business, consisting of standard cell libraries, memory compilers, and general-purpose I/Os (GPIOs) optimized for advanced process nodes at the leading foundries. The transaction will augment Cadence’s expanding design IP offerings, anchored by a leading portfolio of protocol and interface IP, memory interface IP, SerDes IP at the most advanced nodes, and embedded security IP from the pending Secure-IC acquisition.
By increasing its footprint in SoC designs, Cadence is reinforcing its commitment to continuously accelerate customers’ time to market and to optimize their cost, power and performance on the world’s leading foundry processes. Cadence will acquire the Arm Artisan foundation IP business through an asset purchase agreement with a concurrent technology license agreement, to be signed at closing and subject to any existing rights. As part of the transaction, Cadence will acquire a highly talented and experienced engineering team that is well respected in the industry and can help accelerate development of both related and new 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 anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to be immaterial to revenue and earnings this year.
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