The IP business supports advanced process nodes at leading foundries and this transaction will augment Cadence’s expanding design IP offerings, which comprises 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.
The move increases Cadence’s footprint in SoC designs and it will help it to optimise 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. As part of the transaction, Cadence will acquire a highly talented and experienced engineering team that will help to accelerate development of both related and new IP products.
“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 capitalise on new growth opportunities,” said Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence.
“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.
