US-based Cadence to buy IC design firm Cosmic Circuits

California-based Cadence Design Systems, Inc., an electronic design automation (EDA) software and engineering services company, is acquiring Bangalore's analog integrated circuits (IC) design firm Cosmic Circuits Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

With this acquisition, the IC and systems business of Cosmic will be spun off into a separate company and will be owned by certain existing shareholders of Cosmic Circuits. The transaction is expected to be completed by May this year.

The acquisition will broaden Cadence's IP portfolio – strengthening its solutions to address market opportunities in mobile, cloud and data centre space. "The combination of Cadence and Cosmic Circuits will provide customers with high-quality IP to accelerate getting products to market," said Martin Lund, Cadence's senior vice-president of R&D for SoC (system on a chip) realisation.

Set up in 2005, Cosmic Circuits offers IP solutions in connectivity and advanced mixed-signal technologies. It claims to be providing single-stop access to customised IP solutions, bringing certainty in time-to-market with mixed-signal SoCs. Cosmic Circuits has 150-plus people on board and an office in California besides distribution channels in Europe, Israel, Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea. Currently, the company caters to more than 75 global customers.

"Our focus on low-power mobile and time-to-market critical consumer IP markets will add to Cadence's existing strength in high-speed serial IP for cloud/server applications," said Ganapathy Subramaniam, CEO of Cosmic Circuits.

Founded in 1988, California-based Cadence produces software for chip designing and printed circuit boards. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP and services to design advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking & telecommunications equipment and computer systems. Cadence has sales offices, design centres and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. Its Indian office is located in Noida.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)