Cadence announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Arm to buy 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.
This deal 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 putting more resources into SoC designs, Cadence is enhancing its commitment to continuously accelerate customers’ market time and optimize their cost, power, and performance on the world’s leading foundry processes. And Cadence will buy the Arm Artisan foundation IP business through an asset purchase agreement with a concurrent technology license agreement that will be signed at closing and subject to any existing rights. As part of the deal, Cadence will gain a highly talented and experienced engineering team and can help accelerate the development of both related and new IP products.
The deal is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. And the deal is expected to be immaterial to revenue and earnings this year.
KEY QUOTES:
“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. 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.”
– Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence
“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. 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.”
– Kevork Kechichian, executive vice president, Solutions Engineering, Arm
