On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNS) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BETA CAE Systems International AG, a leading computer-aided engineering (CAE) platform provider of multi-domain, engineering simulation solutions. Cadence has built its engineering simulation solutions portfolio through acquisition over the last several years. It recently announced the release of their Millennium™ Enterprise Multiphysics Platform, a dedicated hardware/software acceleration platform leveraging graphics processing unit (GPU) and central processing unit (CPU) computing, underlining its commitment to innovative products and solutions. In recent years, Cadence has engaged with CIMdata to ensure their simulation and analysis revenues were reflected in CIMdata’s Simulation and Analysis Market Analysis Report (S&A MAR). Before this acquisition, CIMdata estimated Cadence revenues in S&A at $153 million in calendar year 2022.

BETA CAE’s ANSA is very well entrenched in the automotive industry with a loyal customer base. This acquisition will give Cadence access to a significant number of major global automotive industry customers. Cadence Fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) portfolio, BETA CAE ANSA, META, SPDRM, and other offerings will create significant new market opportunities for Cadence. With this acquisition, the Cadence multiphysics portfolio will have significant presence in electronics and semiconductor, aerospace, marine, and automotive industries.

CIMdata views this as a continuation of the trend in convergence of mechanical design and electronics systems design domains, particularly in the strategic role of simulation and analysis in developing products and solutions across multiple industries. Smart, connected products are common across many industries and this Cadence acquisition follows other recent transactions in the S&A space, including Synopsys acquiring Ansys (still in process) and Keysight acquiring ESI earlier this year. The S&A segment is growing faster than the mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) and data management segments and is viewed as a key piece of the enterprise digital engineering and transformation puzzle. This acquisition underscores the importance of S&A and EDA to responding to the smart, connected products trend.