Design Software
Cadence Design Systems
A leading provider of electronic design automation software, alongside Synopsys forming a duopoly that controls the tools used to design nearly every modern semiconductor chip. Cadence raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $6.13-6.23 billion after Q1 2026 revenue grew 20% year-over-year to $1.474 billion with double-digit growth across every segment, reporting a record $8.0 billion backlog reflecting sustained hyperscaler demand for AI-driven design tools.
Leading Indicators
Hiring and patent filing trends — the underlying numbers Momentum is computed from. Insider filing activity is tracked separately under Sources below.
Additional Intelligence Signals
Patent citation lineage, earnings-call mentions, and federal contract disclosures — automatically collected, not yet visible anywhere else on the site.
Earnings-call mentions
Mentions Synopsys
“Cadence is leading the agentic AI transformation in semiconductor and system design, pioneering the industry's most advanced and comprehensive agentic AI full-flow platform, AgentStack, integrated with ChipStack, ViraStack, and InnoStack Super Agents.”
SEC 8-K exhibit (0000813672-26-000044) · Apr 27, 2026
Mentions Intel
“IP revenue grew more than 40% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for Cadence s Star IP portfolio, highlighted by a significant agreement with Intel and additional wins with leading semiconductor companies”
SEC 8-K exhibit (0000813672-26-000089) · Jul 27, 2026
Federal contract disclosures
Department of Defense — $3,643,288: ELECTRONIC COUNTERMEASURES, COUNTER-COUNTERMEASURES AND QUICK REACTION CAPABILITY EQUIPMENT
USAspending.gov · Aug 31, 2023
Department of Defense — $1,099,257: ANNUAL SOFTWARE LICENSE MAINTENANCE AND WAN FEES
USAspending.gov · Jul 29, 2025
Department of Defense — $1,095,563: SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE
USAspending.gov · Sep 18, 2024
Department of Defense — $576,640: DMEA SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE 2025 CADENCE
USAspending.gov · Mar 1, 2025
Department of Defense — $499,879: CADENCE LICENSE BUNDLE
USAspending.gov · Dec 8, 2025
Sources
Every claim traced to a primary source — evidence, recent activity, and insider filing behavior, all in one place.
Evidence
2 sources · 84% avg. source confidence
- Cadence Design Systems 10-Q SEC filing — Cadence describes its AI-driven computational software as critical to managing rising chip design complexity88% source confidence
- Futurum Group / Cadence Q1 FY2026 earnings coverage — Cadence raises FY2026 revenue guidance to $6.13-6.23B on AI chip design demand80% source confidence
Insider Filing Activity
Direction/size reflects a sample of the most recent filings, not every Form 4 in the window · sourced from SEC EDGAR · as of Jul 28, 2026
Dependency Map
What Cadence Design Systems depends on below, and who depends on Cadence Design Systems above — click any node to make it the new center, 2 levels deep.
Connection type
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The Story So Far
Auto-generated from this entity's dated milestones, relationship updates, and sourced evidence — not AI-written, just sorted.
Cadence Design Systems's Timeline
A sourced, dated history of Cadence Design Systems's key moments — founding to present.
Jan 1988 · Founded
Cadence was founded, later forming a duopoly with Synopsys controlling the tools used to design nearly every modern semiconductor chip.
2026-Q1 · Record $8.0B backlog
Cadence raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to $6.13-6.23 billion after Q1 2026 revenue grew 20% year-over-year, reporting a record $8.0 billion backlog on hyperscaler AI design-tool demand.
Jan 2026 · ChipStack AI Super Agent reaches Level-5 autonomy
Cadence extended its ChipStack AI Super Agent to Level-5 autonomy, billed as the industry's first fully autonomous virtual design engineer, running on NVIDIA Nemotron models with OpenAI Codex orchestration driving Cadence's Xcelium simulation and Jasper formal verification; NVIDIA reported over 40x faster RTL validation using the workflow.
How These Connections Evolved
How a relationship changed over time, not just its current state — sourced, dated, and traceable.
Cadence Design Systems ↔ NVIDIA
2024–2026
Cadence EDA tools remained core infrastructure for advanced chip design across the semiconductor industry, benefiting from the same AI-driven demand surge as its rival Synopsys.
Now
Cadence provides electronic design automation software used across the semiconductor industry, including by NVIDIA, to design advanced chips.
Cadence Design Systems ↔ Synopsys
2024–2026
Cadence and Synopsys continued their long-running EDA duopoly rivalry, both benefiting from surging AI-chip design complexity that increased demand for their tools industry-wide.
Now
Cadence and Synopsys compete directly for the electronic design automation software market underlying modern chip design.