Cadence Design Systems 10-K 2025-12-31

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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025

OR

For the transition period from _________ to_________.

Commission file number 000-15867

CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(408) 943-1234

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2025 was approximately $83,968,000,000.

On January 31, 2026, approximately 272,651,000 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.01 par value, were outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the definitive proxy statement for Cadence Design Systems, Inc.’s 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Parts II and III hereof. Such definitive proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant's fiscal year ended December 31, 2025.

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CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2025

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PART I.

This Annual Report and the documents incorporated by reference in this Annual Report contain statements that are not historical in nature, are predictive, or that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions or contain other forward-looking statements. Statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding artificial intelligence (“AI"), other technological and market advancements and their impacts on our business; the extent, timing and mix of future revenues and customer demand; the deployment of our products and services; the impact of the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, including but not limited to, expanded trade controls, tariffs, conflicts around the world, volatility in foreign currency exchange rates, inflation and changes in interest rates; the impact of government actions; future costs, expenses, tax rates and uses of cash; pending legal, administrative and tax proceedings; restructuring actions and associated charges and benefits; pending acquisitions, accounting for acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses; and other statements using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will” and “would,” and words of similar import and the negatives thereof, constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are predictions based upon our current expectations about future events. Actual results could vary materially as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to those expressed in these statements. Important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those identified in the “Proprietary Technology,” “Governmental Regulations,” “Competition,” “Risk Factors,” “Critical Accounting Estimates,” “Results of Operations,” “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources” sections contained in this Annual Report and the risks discussed in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings.

We urge you to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to our company or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report are made only as of the date of this Annual Report. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.

Overview

Cadence® is a global technology leader that develops computational, AI-driven software, accelerated hardware, and silicon intellectual property (“IP”) products and solutions. Our customers include semiconductor companies that design and manufacture integrated circuits (“ICs”), as well as systems companies that design and manufacture electromechanical systems containing various types of semiconductor and other electronics. Our products and solutions empower our customers to design and verify and bring to life new and innovative products. Our mission is to empower the world’s most innovative companies to deliver extraordinary electronic products that drive the global economy and improve everyday life.

Business Strategy

Designing even the simplest electronic systems is a sophisticated process that requires highly skilled engineers with specialized expertise. Our Intelligent System Design™ (“ISD”) strategy enables us to address our customers' most challenging product development needs while expanding our capabilities beyond traditional chip design to encompass full electromechanical systems. By leveraging our deep expertise, we develop industry-leading computational AI-driven software, accelerated hardware, and IP solutions that adapt to our customers’ evolving design requirements. This flexibility helps our customers address critical business priorities such as reducing time-to-market and advancing sustainability goals. To address the growing complexity of modern design, we’ve integrated cutting-edge technologies including agentic and generative AI, machine learning, and digital twin algorithms, into our core products and solutions. These innovations, whether developed in-house or through strategic acquisition, empower our customers to achieve their business objectives with greater efficiency and precision.

Our ISD strategy focuses on three key pillars: Design Excellence, System Innovation, and Pervasive Intelligence.

Design Excellence: This pillar leverages our core expertise in AI-driven computational software and accelerated computing to deliver industry-leading electronic design, analysis, and verification products and solutions for semiconductors, which are embedded in many products and services that we use every day.

System Innovation: Building on our Design Excellence foundation, this pillar applies our AI-driven computational expertise to multiphysics-based analysis of systems containing electronic devices, such as printed circuit boards ("PCBs"), advanced packaging technologies, and 3D-ICs. This enables customers to verify that their products will function as intended under various physical conditions.

Pervasive Intelligence: This pillar integrates AI training, inference, and reasoning algorithms into our products and solutions, enabling customers to optimize performance, productivity, and design quality. With the exponential growth of data generated during the design process, our agentic and generative AI solutions analyze vast datasets and are designed to overcome the limitations of traditional human-intensive optimization processes and to enable more accurate, efficient, and optimal design solutions that meet the demands of increasingly complex systems.

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Our software and hardware solutions also support cloud access to address our customers' growing computational needs. Customers can access our solutions via our Cadence OnCloud Platform.

Business Drivers

Our business growth and customer success are fueled by the transformative impact of AI and the increasing complexity of semiconductors and electronic system design that underpins modern society. Anchored in our ISD strategy, we view AI as a pivotal force driving new opportunities across three key horizons. The first, Infrastructure AI, is powered by the demand for high-performance computing (“HPC”) and AI chips essential for data centers and hyperscalers. The second, Physical AI, focuses on embedding AI into physical systems like autonomous vehicles, industrial robotics, and automation. The third, Life Sciences AI, applies AI and computational science to biology, enabling breakthroughs in medical and life sciences industries.

The growing complexity of chip and system designs is a fundamental driver of demand for our technology. As customers tackle the challenges of designing increasingly intricate systems, they rely on our advanced AI-driven computational software, hardware, IP, and services to manage this complexity without proportional cost increases. Our products and solutions are critical for optimizing the performance, power, and area (“PPA”) of semiconductors and electronic systems while accelerating time-to-market. This demand is further amplified by rapid advancements in integrated circuit manufacturing technology. To ensure our customers can fully capitalize on these innovations, we remain committed to significant investments in Research and Development (“R&D”).

Our business is also propelled by the differentiation and measurable value our products and solutions deliver to our customers and partners. As innovation accelerates, our products and solutions address critical challenges in electronic design, including power efficiency, performance, chip area, and cost. Our customers rely on our solutions to provide superior quality of results, enhanced engineering productivity, and unmatched reliability. These capabilities have become increasingly vital as customers pursue sustainability goals by developing energy-efficient products. Beyond traditional electronics, we have expanded into new verticals such as life sciences, leveraging our expertise in simulation and algorithmic design to unlock transformative growth opportunities.

Product Categories

Engineers depend on our solutions to navigate every stage of the electronic product design process, from initial concept to implementation and verification. Advanced AI technologies are integrated into our design platforms to empower users to create highly accurate digital twins—virtual models that replicate functionality, manufacturability, and compliance with industry standards. By leveraging sophisticated simulations, engineers can predict real-world performance, identify potential issues early, and optimize designs before transitioning to physical prototyping. This simulation-first approach delivers significant time and cost efficiencies, reduces the need for costly design iterations, and ensures customers have confidence that their products will perform safely, reliably, and as intended.

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Aligned with our ISD strategy, we organize our offerings into three tightly integrated product categories: Core EDA, Semiconductor IP, and System Design and Analysis (“SD&A”). Core EDA encompasses the software, hardware, and services essential for the design and verification of a wide range of semiconductors. Our Semiconductor IP portfolio includes silicon subsystems, software, and related services that accelerate the semiconductor design process. The SD&A category provides solutions and services that enable the design and verification of complete electronic systems, from PCBs to complex system assemblies.

Core EDA

Our Core EDA products and solutions are essential in the design and verification of semiconductor chips, including analog, digital, mixed-signal, memory, radio-frequency (“RF”), and silicon photonics, and are widely used across multiple industries including automotive, aerospace and defense, consumer electronics, data centers, industrial, medical, and mobile. We work closely with leading semiconductor ecosystem partners to develop foundry process design kits (“PDKs”) to ensure our core EDA products and solutions meet manufacturing sign-off requirements. To address increasing design and manufacturing complexity, we integrate machine learning, generative AI and native cloud scalability in our solutions, enhancing design quality and engineering productivity.

Custom IC Design and Simulation

Virtuoso is our flagship platform used by engineers to design and verify analog, custom, RF, mixed-signal IC, memory, and photonics devices. It is considered the industry standard for custom and analog IC design, enabling high-performance, low-power, and differentiated silicon development. Its integrated simulation and analysis capabilities ensure circuit functionality, performance, and reliability under varying conditions, while comprehensive physical verification and signoff flows, including design rule checking (“DRC”) and layout-versus-schematic (“LVS”) verification, ensure manufacturing compliance.

Digital IC Design and Signoff

The Innovus™ platform is used by engineers to design and verify large digital ICs. Innovus is critical for customers to optimize their designs to achieve the best PPA. Its integrated physical verification and signoff capabilities, including DRC, LVS, static timing analysis (“STA”), and power analysis are necessary to ensure correct circuit functionality, while optimizing for PPA.

Functional Verification

Functional verification is a critical part of the design process, ensuring a chip's functional description matches its physical implementation. This process is repeated throughout the design cycle to identify potential issues early, reducing the risk of costly errors post-manufacturing. We offer two software solutions for functional verification: the Jasper Formal Verification Platform and the Xcelium™ Parallel Logic Simulation Platform. These tools help engineers align functional and physical views of a design, ensuring it passes all functional tests. Additionally, our Verisium™ generative AI solution enhances productivity, automation, and quality across the entire verification flow.

For high-performance chips like microprocessors, graphics processing units (“GPUs”), and AI processors, hardware acceleration and software prototyping are essential to handle and reduce the time necessary for large-scale functional tests that could otherwise take weeks or months. Our Palladium® Enterprise Emulation Platform and Protium™ field programmable gate arrays (“FPGA”)-Based Prototyping Platforms significantly reduce simulation times, enabling comprehensive chip verification, early bug detection, and hardware/software co-verification. The Palladium platform delivers high throughput, capacity, and reliability for global design teams, while the Protium platform accelerates the transition from emulation to prototyping, allowing earlier software development.

In fiscal 2025, we acquired industry‑leading technology that expands our AI‑driven design and verification capabilities to include advanced agentic AI technology purpose‑built for semiconductor development. This technology leverages deep design understanding, intelligent test planning, automated test generation, and AI‑assisted debugging to accelerate functional verification workflows. This technology, deployed at leading chip companies and hyperscalers, is integrated with our Xcelium Logic Simulator, Jasper Formal Verification Platform, and other front-end verification technologies, reducing verification cycles from weeks to days and enabling customers to scale productivity.

With our acquisition of VLAB Works in fiscal 2025, we expanded our automotive electronic software and hardware development capabilities to include advanced virtual prototyping technology. VLAB Works’ industry-leading solutions include a high-performance virtual development environment (“VDE”) and an extensive catalog of virtual model components and integrated platforms. These solutions, along with the rest of VLAB Works’ portfolio, address embedded software development challenges across several markets, including automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and semiconductor companies, supporting trends like software-defined vehicles (“SDVs”) and software-defined systems (“SDx”).

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Semiconductor IP

Our Semiconductor IP portfolio features strategic, mission-critical design architectures that customers integrate into their differentiated design blocks, system-on-chip (“SoC”) subsystems, and chiplets. These IP solutions are embedded in silicon chips deployed across high-volume markets, including automotive, hyperscale, mobile computing, and consumer products such as mobile phones and AI chips. Our offerings include controllers and physical interfaces widely used in computing, networking, and embedded systems. The portfolio spans PCI Express, Universal Accelerator Link, Compute Express Link, multiple memory interfaces such as High Bandwidth Memory and Graphics Double Data Rate, and other industry standards. Additionally, our Tensilica® configurable digital signal processors (“DSPs”) provide vertically targeted subsystems for AI, audio/voice, baseband, and vision/imaging applications. Our design IP portfolio also includes high-speed serializer/deserializer (“SerDes”), peripheral component interconnect (“PCI”), USB, and other standard protocols. Complementing these offerings, our Verification IP (“VIP”) portfolio enables system-level validation and integrates seamlessly with our Xcelium™ simulator and Palladium® Enterprise Emulation solutions.

In fiscal 2025, we expanded our design IP portfolio with the acquisition of the Arm Artisan foundation IP business, adding standard cell libraries, memory compilers, and general-purpose I/Os (“GPIOs”) optimized for advanced process nodes at leading foundries. This acquisition complements our existing protocol and interface IP, memory interface IP, and SerDes IP at advanced nodes, enhancing our ability to address SoC design challenges across markets such as automotive, data center, mobile, internet of things (“IoT”), and consumer electronics. These solutions reinforce our commitment to improving customers’ time to market while optimizing cost, power, and performance.

Also in fiscal 2025, we strengthened our embedded security capabilities with the acquisition of Secure-IC, a leader in embedded security IP, solutions, and evaluation tools. By combining Secure-IC’s expertise in cybersecurity with Cadence’s decades of experience in IP and subsystem design, we are able to deliver comprehensive system solutions that accelerate customers’ time to market and are designed to meet stringent security and regulatory requirements. These solutions address critical challenges in key markets, including automotive, data center, aerospace and defense, mobile, IoT, and consumer electronics.

System Design and Analysis

Our SD&A platform is a comprehensive solution that enables critical end-to-end system-level design and verification across chips, packages, PCBs, and complete electronic systems. The SD&A platform integrates advanced multiphysics simulation—including thermal, electromagnetic, and signal/power integrity—along with computational fluid dynamics to address growing complexity in heterogeneous integration and 3D-IC designs.

The core SD&A products include the Allegro X and OrCAD X platforms for PCB and advanced packaging, Sigrity X for signal and power integrity, AWR for RF design, Fidelity™ for computational fluid dynamics (“CFD”) and Celsius for thermal and airflow analysis, Clarity™ 3D Solver for electromagnetic and power electronics analysis and simulation, and Integrity™ 3D-IC solution for advanced 3D-IC and multi-chiplet designs. The Optimality™ Intelligent System Explorer, Reality™ Digital Twin, and Millennium Enterprise Multiphysics platform provide enhanced optimization, performance, and productivity with agentic AI-driven and high-performance digital-twin analysis capabilities. By embedding analysis earlier and at multiple stages during the design process, our SD&A solution helps customers reduce risk, ensure performance and reliability, and bring innovative products to market faster. These solutions also leverage agentic AI-driven optimization and cloud-native scalability to accelerate design and analysis and improve designer productivity.

The capabilities in the Allegro® System Design Platform include PCB design and implementation, IC package and system-in-package design, signal and power integrity analysis, and PCB library design management and collaboration. The need for compact, high-performance mobile, consumer, and automotive design with advanced serial interconnect is driving the technological evolution of our PCB offerings. For mainstream PCB customers, where individual or small team productivity is a focus, we provide the OrCAD® family of offerings, which are primarily marketed worldwide through a network of resellers. Allegro X AI™ is our generative AI solution designed to provide significant cycle-time compression for PCB design, enhancing an engineer’s productivity.

The speed and proximity of signals on silicon, through packages to boards, and through connectors and cables, exposes these communications to various kinds of interference, generates heat, and emits electromagnetic radiation. Careful analysis is required for these systems to work as designed under a wide range of operating conditions, standards, and regulations. The complexity of these devices and signal transmissions requires analysis and simulation throughout the product lifecycle to meet these objectives. Our Clarity™ 3D Solver for electromagnetic and power electronics analysis and simulation, as well as our Celsius™ Thermal Solver, provide the foundation for multiphysics analysis technology, with complete electrical-thermal co-simulation for electronic systems from ICs to physical enclosures.

Our Fidelity™ CFD Software expands our ability to meet the growing design challenges of electronic and systems companies. Fidelity CFD is a physics-based analysis solution for mechanical design and complements the electronic system analysis portfolio. Our comprehensive suite of CFD solutions enables our customers to extend their multiphysics analysis workflows to address simulation and analysis challenges for applications such as aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, propulsion, turbomachinery, heat transfer, and combustion. Optimality™ Intelligent System Explorer is the industry’s first generative AI-driven multiphysics optimization solution. It delivers additional productivity, automation, and improved system-level power, performance and area and quality of results throughout the entire analysis flow.

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Our Cadence Reality Digital Twin platform brings physics-based design and analysis to the data center sector for performance-aware design and operational planning. Data center professionals can future-proof designs and assess operational decisions with this digital twin and empower designers, owners, and operators to address the need for reliability, capacity, and energy efficiency.

Our Millennium™ Multiphysics Enterprise Platform is an industry-first turnkey AI-enabled digital twin and is designed to overcome traditional CFD speed/accuracy and compute resource limitations with a combination of GPU resident CFD solvers such as Fidelity LES for large eddy simulations (“LES”) and scalable high-performance hardware. In May 2025, we announced the M2000 supercomputer. The M2000 is a specialized, AI-accelerated platform co-developed with NVIDIA to dramatically speed up complex simulations in fields like semiconductor design, aerospace and defense, and drug discovery.

For 3D-IC and multi-chiplet designs, our customers use the Cadence® Integrity™ 3D-IC Platform. Built on the Innovus solution, Integrity allows system-level designers to plan, implement, and analyze stacked die systems for a variety of packaging styles (2.5D or 3D). Integrity 3D-IC is the industry’s first integrated system and SoC-level solution that enables system analysis, including co-design, with Virtuoso and Allegro implementation environments.

In fiscal 2025, we announced our intent to acquire the Design & Engineering (“D&E”) business of Hexagon Smart Solutions AB (“Hexagon”), including its MSC Software division, which is expected to accelerate our ISD strategy. Hexagon’s D&E business is recognized for its industry-leading technologies, including MSC Nastran for structural analysis and Adams for multibody dynamics simulation, that are widely used in aerospace and defense, automotive, robotics, and emerging fields like physical AI. With this addition, we will serve a broader customer base, including leading aerospace and defense and automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, while addressing critical design challenges in electric vehicles, autonomous systems, and advanced materials. Once complete, our acquisition of these solutions is expected to complement our 2024 acquisition of BETA CAE Systems, further strengthening our presence in the multi-billion-dollar structural analysis market.

We also offer molecular modeling and simulation solutions and services. These solutions and services are used by a wide range of organizations in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors to accelerate the drug discovery process and make more informed decisions in developing new therapeutics.

Product Arrangements

We primarily license our software using time-based licenses. Our time-based license arrangements offer customers the right to access and use all of the products delivered at the outset of an arrangement and updates throughout the entire term of the arrangement, which is generally two to three years, with no rights to return. In addition, certain time-based license arrangements include the right for the customer to remix among the products delivered at the outset of the arrangement and use unspecified additional products that become commercially available during the term of the arrangement.

A small portion of our software is licensed under perpetual licenses, which does not include the right to use new technology. Payment terms for time-based licenses generally provide for payments to be made over the license period, and payment terms for perpetual licenses generally are net 30 days.

Our hardware products are either sold or leased to our customers. Our emulation hardware can also be accessed remotely via a Cadence-managed cloud arrangement.

We generally license our design IP under nonexclusive license agreements that provide usage rights for specific designs. Some customers enter into non-cancelable commitments, whereby the customer commits to a fixed dollar amount over a specified period of time that can be used to purchase from a list of products or services. In addition, for certain IP license agreements, we collect royalties as our customers ship their product that includes our IP to their customers.

For a further description of our license agreements, our hardware sale or lease agreements, revenue recognition policies and results of operations, please refer to the discussion under “Critical Accounting Estimates” under Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

Technical Support and Maintenance

Customer service and support is critical to the adoption and successful use of our products. We provide our customers with technical support and maintenance to facilitate their use of our software, hardware and IP solutions.

Our education services offerings can be customized and include training programs that are delivered online, through an app, or in a classroom setting. The content of these offerings ranges from the latest design techniques to methodologies for using the most recent features of our products. The primary focus of education services is to accelerate our customers’ path to productivity in the use of our products.

Services

We offer a number of services, including design services, services related to methodology, education and hosted design solutions. These services may be sold separately or sold and performed in conjunction with the license, sale or lease of our products. As necessary, specialized design services engineers are assigned to internal R&D projects associated with our design IP business.

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As part of our services offerings, we design advanced ICs, develop custom IP and help customers address design challenges. This enables us to target and accelerate the development of new software technology and products to satisfy current and future design requirements.

We offer engineering services to collaborate with our customers in the design of complex ICs and the implementation of key design capabilities, including low power design, IC packaging and board design, functional verification, digital implementation, analog/mixed-signal design and system-level design. The customers for these services primarily consist of semiconductor and systems companies developing products for the consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, mobile, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial and life science vertical sectors. These ICs range from digital SoCs and analog and RF designs to complex mixed-signal ICs.

The Cadence Cloud portfolio, which consists of Cadence-managed and customer-managed cloud environments, continues to expand, with additional cloud-based and software as a service (“SaaS”) products, including cloud-based solutions for SD&A and functional verification. Contractual arrangements with customers for both environments are generally time-based, similar to the on-premises software license arrangements described above, and may include usage-based terms.

In delivering methodology services, we leverage our experience and knowledge of design techniques, our products, leading practices and different design environments to enable improved productivity of our customers’ engineering teams. Depending on the customers’ projects and needs, we work with customers using outsourced, consultative and collaborative offerings.

Third-Party Programs and Initiatives

In addition to our products, many customers use design tools that are provided by other companies, as well as design IP available from alternative suppliers. We support the use of third-party design products and design IP through our Cadence Connections® program and through our participation in industry groups such as the Silicon Integration Initiative and Accellera System Initiative. We actively contribute to the development and deployment of industry standards.

Product and Maintenance and Services Revenue

Revenue, and revenue as a percentage of total revenue, from our product and maintenance and services offerings for the last three fiscal years were as follows:

Product and maintenance revenue includes revenue from licensing our software and semiconductor IP, sales and leases of emulation hardware and the related maintenance on these licenses and sales.

Services revenue includes revenue received for performing engineering services (which are generally not related to the functionality of other licensed products), customized IP on a fixed fee basis, and sales from cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, hardware and services over a period of time.

For additional information and analysis on our revenue, including revenue by geography, see the discussion under “Results of Operations” under Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” For our fiscal 2025 results of operations and our financial position as of December 31, 2025, see Part IV, Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.”

Remaining Performance Obligations

Revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations represents the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied, or partially unsatisfied, which includes unearned revenue and amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods. We have elected to exclude the potential future royalty receipts from the remaining performance obligations. Contracted but unsatisfied performance obligations were $7.8 billion as of December 31, 2025, which included $0.6 billion of non-cancelable commitments from customers where actual product selection and quantities of specific products or services are to be determined by customers at a later date.

We estimate our remaining performance obligations at a point in time. Actual amounts and timing of revenue recognition may differ from these estimates largely due to changes in actual installation and delivery dates, as well as contract renewals, modifications and terminations. As of December 31, 2025, we expected to recognize 53% of the contracted but unsatisfied performance obligations, excluding non-cancelable commitments, as revenue over the next 12 months, 43% over the next 13 to 36 months and the remainder thereafter.

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Marketing and Sales

We generally market our products and provide services to existing and prospective customers through a direct sales force consisting of salespeople and applications engineers. Applications engineers provide technical pre-sales and post-sales support for our products. Due to the complexity of many of our products and the system design process, the sales cycle is generally long, requiring up to six months or longer. During the sales cycle, our direct sales force generally provides technical presentations, product demonstrations and support for on-site customer evaluation of our solutions. We also promote our products and services through advertising, marketing automation, trade shows, public relations and the internet. We selectively utilize value-added resellers to broaden our reach and reduce cost of sales. Our OrCAD products and certain Allegro products are primarily marketed through these channels. With respect to international sales, we generally market and support our products and services through our subsidiaries. We also use a third-party distributor to license our products and services to certain customers in Japan.

Research and Development

Our future performance depends on our ability to innovate, commercialize newly developed solutions and enhance and maintain our current products. The primary areas of our R&D align with our product categories discussed above. We must continuously adapt our products to solve new or increased physics challenges that arise with each successive process node and address the increase in complexity that is introduced by the resulting much larger designs. We must also keep pace with our customers’ technical developments, satisfy industry standards and meet our customers’ increasingly demanding performance, productivity, quality and predictability requirements. Therefore, we expect to continue to make significant investments in R&D.

Hardware Manufacturing and Software Distribution

Our hardware, including all individual PCBs, custom ICs and FPGA-based prototyping components, is manufactured, assembled and tested by subcontractors before delivery to our customers. Software and documentation are primarily distributed to customers by secure electronic delivery.

Proprietary Technology

Our success depends, in part, upon our proprietary technology. We generally rely on patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws, licenses and restrictive agreements to establish and protect our proprietary rights in technology and products. Many of our products include software or other IP licensed from third parties. We may have to seek new licenses or renew existing licenses for third-party software and other IP in the future. As part of performing engineering services for customers, our engineering services business uses certain software and other IP licensed from third parties, including that of our competitors.

Governmental Regulations

We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to our business and operations. These include, but are not limited to, laws and regulations related to trade controls, anti-corruption and anti-bribery, and data privacy and data protection and AI, as well as antitrust, competition, employment, income taxes, national security, foreign ownership and investment and the environment. The following describes certain significant laws and regulations that may impact our business. For additional information regarding risks related to these and other laws and regulations that may impact us, including existing restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”), as well as international relations, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

Trade

We are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions concerning the sale, shipment and transmission of our products and technology outside the United States and to foreign nationals, including tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, sanctions and other trade regulations. In particular, the U.S. trade control laws and regulations have been amended over the past several years, including through the imposition of certain export control restrictions concerning advanced node IC production in China, the inclusion of additional Chinese technology companies on the “Entity List” maintained by BIS, and regulations governing the sale and export of certain technologies.

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In addition, as previously disclosed, on May 23, 2025, BIS informed us that a license was required for the export, re-export or in-country transfer of EDA software and technology classified under Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 3D991 and 3E991 on the Commerce Control List (“EDA Software and Technology”) when a party to the transaction is located in China or is a Chinese "military end user" on the "Military End-User List," wherever located. On July 2, 2025, BIS informed us that the license requirements set forth in the May 23, 2025 letter from BIS were rescinded effective immediately. These restrictions have had, and any subsequent restrictions may have, an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition, either directly or by impacting our customers’ products, and restrict our ability to license or support our products to certain companies in China. Moreover, we cannot predict whether or when any additional changes will be made that eliminate or decrease these restrictions, or change the duration of such restrictions, or impose new restrictions. For example, effective September 29, 2025, BIS issued an interim final rule that extended the export restrictions imposed on entities identified on the Entity List or the Military End-User List and certain other sanctioned parties, to entities that are 50% or more owned by one or more of such entities. However, on November 11, 2025, BIS published a one-year suspension of the new rule that is currently set to expire on November 9, 2026, absent a future extension. Furthermore, increased restrictions on China exports may lead to additional regulatory retaliation by the Chinese government and possibly further escalate geopolitical tensions, and any such scenarios may adversely impact our business. The prospect of future export controls that are implemented in a similar manner may continue to have an ongoing impact on our business, results of operation, or financial conditions.

Trade regulations limiting or banning sales into certain countries or to certain companies, including economic and financial sanctions and trade embargoes administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, have impacted our ability to transact business in certain countries and with certain customers. Future trade regulations may also impact our ability to transact business with certain customers and in certain countries and may restrict certain non-U.S. person employees from performing their duties at Cadence without first obtaining appropriate authorization if their duties involve an export, reexport, or transfer of export-controlled technology.

Anti-corruption and anti-bribery

We are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions concerning anti-corruption and anti-bribery, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act, which prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials and bribes to other persons.

Data privacy and data protection

We are subject to laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions governing data privacy and data protection, including the California Consumer Privacy Act and the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation, which regulate our collection, handling and use of personal information.

The laws and regulations to which we are subject are complex and may change or develop over time, sometimes with limited or no advance notice. Developments or other changes in laws or regulations or how they are interpreted or enforced have had, and may continue to have, a negative impact on our business and increase our compliance-related expenditures.

Artificial intelligence

The regulatory framework governing the use of AI, machine learning and automated decision-making technologies (“AI Technologies”) is rapidly evolving. Many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced or are currently considering additional laws and regulations.

Already, certain existing legal regimes (e.g., relating to data privacy) regulate certain aspects of AI Technologies, and new laws regulating AI Technologies have been enacted. For example, at the U.S. state level, the California Privacy Protection Agency recently finalized regulations under the California Consumer Privacy Act regarding the use of automated decision-making, which went into effect on January 1, 2026. At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission has required other companies to disgorge valuable insights of trainings generated through the use of AI Technologies in certain cases where the company is alleged to have violated privacy and consumer protection laws. In addition, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (the “EU AI Act”), which entered into force on August 1, 2024 and under which the majority of substantive requirements are expected to apply from August 2, 2026, applies to companies that develop, use and/or provide AI in the EU and – depending on the AI use case – includes requirements around transparency, conformity assessments and monitoring, risk assessments, human oversight, security and accuracy, training data transparency, copyright compliance and technical documentation, and fines for breach of up to 7% of worldwide annual turnover. Such additional regulations may impact our ability to develop, use and commercialize AI Technologies in the future.

Moreover, while these regulatory regimes continue to expand globally, in the United States, the Trump administration has rescinded an executive order relating to AI Technologies that was previously implemented by the Biden administration and may rescind or amend other existing regulations relating to AI Technologies. In addition, the Trump administration has implemented an executive order that limits state-level regulation of AI Technologies, and may continue to implement new executive orders and/or other rules or administrative policies relating to AI Technologies in the future.

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Competition

We operate in a highly competitive market, facing both domestic and international competition. Competition in our market is driven by several critical factors, including the ability to deliver continuous technological innovation, the quality and differentiation of product and service offerings, the strength and stability of customer relationships, the ability to attract and retain top engineering talent, and potential geopolitical trade restrictions. Our success hinges on providing comprehensive, integrated solutions that address the growing complexity of semiconductor and systems design.

Our competitors range from large, established providers to smaller, specialized firms, emerging companies, and internal design teams within major technology corporations. Key competitors include Synopsys, Inc., Ansys, Inc. (acquired by Synopsys), Siemens EDA, and a variety of other tool providers, electronics device manufacturers with in-house EDA capabilities, technical and computational software companies, electronics design and consulting firms, and IP companies. U.S.-based competitors include Keysight Technologies, Inc., Schrödinger, Inc., and CEVA, Inc., while international competitors include Altium Limited (acquired by Renesas Electronics Corporation) and Zuken, Inc. (Japan) and emerging players in China such as Huada Empyrean, Xpeedic Technology, X-EPIC, Primarius Technologies, Univista, and Giga Design Automation. Additionally, some competitors have pursued acquisitions, partnerships, or strategic alliances, potentially enhancing their competitive positioning.

In the engineering services business, competitive dynamics differ from those in the product business. While we compete with other computational software companies in this area, our competitors include independent engineering service providers. Many of these companies are also our customers, leveraging our product offerings in the delivery of their own services or products.

For more information on risks related to competitive factors affecting our business, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

Human Capital Resource Management

Our people are at the center of our success and drive the innovations that are enabling next-generation technologies. Cadence technology is highly specialized and deeply technical and our team represents some of the best and brightest in their fields. Our One Team culture is central to employees experience and enables us to attract and retain top talent in our industry. We regularly invest in key initiatives including, but not limited to, furthering belonging, physical and mental health, and talent development. To measure engagement and collect feedback from our employees, we administer regular employee engagement surveys.

Cadence leaders are tasked with creating and sustaining our culture and therefore, they are measured on their contributions to the attraction, development, engagement of high-caliber talent, enhancing innovation capabilities and advancing our sustainability objectives.

Employees

As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 13,800 employees. Our global workforce is highly educated, technical and specialized, with a substantial majority of employees working in engineering roles.

Compensation and Benefits

To inspire and recognize our employees, we offer competitive compensation and benefits programs. Our compensation programs link employee compensation to our business and individual performance. We also offer a semi-annual bonus program, 401(k) match, Employee Stock Purchase Plan and equity compensation. In addition, our employees are eligible to receive monetary awards from their colleagues through our peer-to-peer recognition program.

Talent Development

To help employees succeed in their current roles, pursue their passions and develop the skills necessary for advancement, we provide formal training programs and curriculums in addition to on-the-job training. Our high performance culture platform provides our employees with valuable resources such as a comprehensive online Learning Management program with training and development tools on a broad range of topics and skills. We also offer tuition reimbursement opportunities to employees to further hone their skills.

Social Impact and Community Outreach

We believe it is important to create meaningful opportunities for employees to connect and contribute to their communities. We provide paid volunteer time off, charitable contribution matching, company-wide volunteer campaigns, international service immersion projects and grants to employees who are giving back to their communities.

The Cadence Giving Foundation, established in 2021, is committed to providing Cadence employees and others a means through which to carry out their volunteer activities as well as making an impact on our focus areas of AI for Good, science, technology, engineering and math (“STEM”) education and local communities. This is accomplished through various means, including grant making and partnerships with non-profit organizations committed to addressing these issues. We also make charitable contributions consisting of Cadence technology product donations.

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Corporate Responsibility

We believe that, in general, the best and brightest talent is inclined to build a career with a responsible organization that positively impacts society. We are focused on doing our part to contribute to the health of the planet through initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint.

Corporate Information

Our headquarters is located at 2655 Seely Avenue, San Jose, California 95134. Our telephone number is (408) 943-1234. We use our website at www.cadence.com to communicate important information about our company, including news releases and financial information. Our website permits investors to subscribe to email notification alerts when we post new material information on our website. We also make available on our investor relations webpage, free of charge, copies of our SEC filings and submissions, which can be found at the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov, as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such documents with the SEC. Stockholders may also request copies of these documents by writing to our Corporate Secretary at the address above. Website references are provided throughout this document for convenience only. The contents of these websites do not constitute a part of this Annual Report and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report unless expressly noted.

Fiscal Year End

Cadence’s fiscal year end is December 31, and its fiscal quarters end on March 31, June 30, and September 30.

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

The following table provides information regarding our executive officers as of February 18, 2026:

Our executive officers are appointed by our Board of Directors and serve at the discretion of our Board of Directors.

ANIRUDH DEVGAN has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cadence since December 2021 and President of Cadence since November 2017. From May 2012 to November 2017, Dr. Devgan held several positions at Cadence, most recently as Executive Vice President, Research and Development from March 2017 to November 2017 and Senior Vice President, Research and Development from November 2013 to March 2017. Prior to joining Cadence, from May 2005 to March 2012, Dr. Devgan served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Custom Design Business Unit at Magma Design Automation, Inc., an EDA company. Dr. Devgan also serves as a director of Lam Research Corporation. Dr. Devgan has a B.Tech. in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

JOHN M. WALL has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cadence since October 2017. From June 1997 to October 2017, Mr. Wall held several positions at Cadence, most recently as Corporate Vice President and Corporate Controller from April 2016 to October 2017, Vice President, Finance and Operations, Worldwide Revenue Accounting and Sales Finance from 2015 to 2016 and Vice President, Finance and Operations, EMEA and Worldwide Revenue Accounting from 2005 to 2015. Mr. Wall has an NCBS from the Institute of Technology, Tralee and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

PAUL CUNNINGHAM has served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the System Verification Group of Cadence since March 2021. From August 2011 to March 2021, Dr. Cunningham held several positions at Cadence, most recently as Corporate Vice President of the System Verification Group beginning January 2018. Prior to joining Cadence, Dr. Cunningham was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Azuro, Inc., a clock concurrent optimization company, that Cadence acquired in July 2011. Dr. Cunningham has an M.A. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

PAUL SCANNELL has served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations (later renamed to Customer Success Team) of Cadence since May 2024. From 2005 to April 2024, Mr. Scannell held several positions at Cadence, including most recently as Corporate Vice President, Sales from June 2017 to April 2024. Prior to joining Cadence in 2005 through Cadence's acquisition of Verisity Ltd., Mr. Scannell served in key positions at Axis Systems, Inc., Synopsys, Inc. and Viewlogic Systems, Inc. Mr. Scannell has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, an M.S. in electrical engineering from University of Southern California and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.

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MARC TAXAY has served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Cadence since May 2025. In this role, he is responsible for Cadence's global legal operations, including corporate governance, commercial transactions, employment law, export compliance, government affairs, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and stock administration. Prior to Cadence, from March 2016 to May 2025, Mr. Taxay served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Arista Networks Inc., a cloud networking solutions company, overseeing legal affairs including commercial transactions, intellectual property, corporate governance, securities and compliance. Prior to Arista Networks Inc., Mr. Taxay served as General Counsel at MedeAnalytics, Inc., Assistant General Counsel at Coremetrics, and was a partner at Cohen & Grigsby. Mr. Taxay holds a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from the University of Michigan.

CHIN-CHI TENG has served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digital and Signoff Group of Cadence since September 2018. From January 2002 to September 2018, Dr. Teng held several positions at Cadence, most recently as Corporate Vice President, Research and Development from June 2015 to September 2018, and Vice President, Research and Development from March 2009 to June 2015. Dr. Teng has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in the sections below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, growth prospects, demand for our products and services, reputation and the trading price of our common stock, and make an investment in us speculative or risky. The following does not summarize all of the risks that we face, and there may be additional risks or uncertainties that are currently unknown or not believed to be material that occur or become material.

Risk Factors Summary

Business and Operational Risks

• We have experienced varied operating results, and our operating results for any particular fiscal period are affected by the timing of revenue recognition, particularly for our hardware, IP and certain software products.

• The growth of our business depends primarily on the semiconductor and electronics systems industries.

• Uncertainty in the global economy and instability within international relations, including changes in governmental policies relating to technology, may negatively affect our business and reduce our bookings levels and revenue.

• We are subject to governmental export and import controls that subject us to liability and impair our ability to compete in global markets as well as a variety of other laws and regulations.

• As we continue to acquire and invest in companies or technologies, we may not realize the expected business or financial benefits and these acquisitions could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value and adversely affect our operating results and the market value of our common stock.

• We could suffer serious harm to our business because of the infringement or misappropriation of our IP rights by third parties.

• Our success is highly dependent upon the legal protection of our proprietary technology, as well as software and other IP rights licensed to us by third parties, and we cannot assure that the precautions taken to protect our rights will be adequate or that we will continue to be able to adequately secure such IP rights from third parties.

• We may not realize opportunities presented by AI and may incur reputational and financial harm and liability as a result of issues relating to the management and governance of our use of AI.

• Cyberattacks that compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our or our third-party providers’ information technology systems or confidential information could materially harm our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

• Any actual or perceived failure to comply with new or existing laws, regulations and other requirements relating to the privacy, security, processing and cross-border transfer of Personal Information (as defined below) could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

• We rely on third-party data center providers and any disruption in the operations of these third-party providers, limitations on capacity or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

• Doing business with the public sector and heavily-regulated entities subjects us to risks related to government procurement processes, regulations and contracting requirements.

• Risks associated with our international operations could adversely impact our financial condition.

• The effect of foreign exchange rate fluctuations may adversely impact our revenue, expenses, cash flows and financial condition.

• We depend upon our management team and qualified employees, and our failure to attract, train, motivate and retain them may make us less competitive and therefore harm our results of operations.

• A significant portion of our cash is held and generated outside of the United States, and if our cash available in the United States is insufficient to meet our requirements in the United States, we may be required to raise cash in ways that could negatively affect our financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our common stock.

• The investment of our cash is subject to risks that may cause losses and affect the liquidity of these investments.

• The long sales cycle of our products and services may cause our operating results to fluctuate unexpectedly.

• We have incurred, and may in the future incur, substantial costs in connection with restructuring plans, which might not result in the benefits we anticipate, possibly having a negative effect on our future operating results.

• Our business is subject to the risk of natural disasters, global climate change and other catastrophic events.

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Risks Related to Customers, Suppliers and Industry Competition

• Customer consolidation could affect our operating results.

• Our failure to respond quickly to technological developments or customers’ increasing technological requirements and to continue to develop or acquire technological capabilities could make our products uncompetitive and obsolete and impede our ability to address the requirements in technology segments that are expected to contribute to our growth.

• Our investment in research and development of new and existing products, technologies and services may affect our operating results, and our return on investment may be lower or develop more slowly than expected.

• Our operating results and revenue could be adversely affected by customer payment delays, customer bankruptcies and defaults, modifications or non-renewals of licenses.

• The competition in our industries is substantial, and we may not be able to continue to compete successfully.

• Our future revenue is dependent in part upon our installed customer base continuing to license or buy products and purchase services.

• We depend on a single supplier or a limited number of suppliers for certain hardware components and contract manufacturers for production of our hardware products, making us vulnerable to supply disruption and price fluctuation.

Tax, Regulatory and Litigation Risks

• Our results could be adversely affected by an increase in our effective tax rate as a result of U.S. and foreign tax law changes, outcomes of current or future tax examinations, or by material differences between our forecasted and actual effective tax rates.

• Litigation, government investigations or regulatory proceedings could adversely affect our financial condition and operations.

• Errors, defects or other issues with our products and services could expose us to liability and harm our business.

• Our reported financial results may be adversely affected by changes in United States generally accepted accounting principles, and we may incur significant costs to adjust our accounting systems and processes to comply with significant changes.

• If we become subject to unfair hiring claims, we could be prevented from hiring needed employees, incur liability for damages and incur substantial costs in defending ourselves.

• We are subject to evolving corporate governance, environmental and social practices and public disclosure expectations and regulations that impact compliance costs and risks of noncompliance.

Risks Related to Our Securities and Indebtedness

• Our stock price has been and may continue to be subject to fluctuations.

• The amount and frequency of our share repurchases may fluctuate, and we cannot guarantee that we will fully consummate our share repurchase authorization, or that it will enhance long-term stockholder value. Share repurchases could also increase the volatility of the trading price of our common stock and diminish our cash reserves.

• Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and certain provisions under Delaware law could prevent an acquisition of our company or limit the price that

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None.

Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy

We have developed and implemented a cybersecurity risk management program intended to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our critical systems and information, including our customers’, vendors’, partners’ and employees’ data, including personal information.

Our cybersecurity risk management program is guided by frameworks and standards promulgated by the EU, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Cloud Security Alliance (“CSA”) and International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (“ISO/IEC”). While we seek to maintain ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27017:2015 certifications, and seek to achieve the SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 attestations, this does not imply that we specifically or comprehensively comply with technical specification or requirements, only that we use all the above-mentioned standards and regulations as a guide to help us identify, assess and manage cybersecurity risks relevant to our business.

Our cybersecurity risk management program is integrated into our overall risk oversight strategy and utilizes common reporting channels and governance processes that apply across other risk areas. We have a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”), who leads our Information Security team responsible for managing our cybersecurity processes, strategy and controls. Certain members of our Information Security team hold cybersecurity certifications, including the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (“CISSP”) and the Certified Information Systems Auditor (“CISA”) designations.

Our cybersecurity risk management program includes:

• a security incident response plan that includes procedures for responding to and escalating cybersecurity incidents;

• risk assessment processes designed to help identify cybersecurity risks to our critical systems, information, products, services and our broader enterprise IT environment;

• our Information Security team, principally responsible for identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks, and managing our security controls and our response to cybersecurity incidents;

• the use of external service providers, where appropriate, to assess, test (including penetration test) or otherwise assist with certain aspects of our security controls and processes;

• global security operations center services through certain service providers;

• implementation of new hire and annual data privacy and cybersecurity training of employees, including senior management, and cybersecurity governance training for our Board of Directors;

• a cybersecurity insurance policy to cover certain types of costs and losses from cybersecurity incidents; and

• a third-party risk management process, including risk assessment and risk rating (using common vulnerability scoring system or similar methodologies based on industry practices), for certain service providers, suppliers and vendors.

We have not identified risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any prior cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected us, including our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for descriptions of certain ongoing risks from cybersecurity threats that, if realized, are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition.

Cybersecurity Governance

Our Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing our enterprise risk management activities in general, and our Board committees assist with certain aspects of risk oversight. With respect to cybersecurity risk, our Board of Directors shares certain of the oversight responsibility and processes with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (“Audit Committee”).

The Audit Committee, comprised entirely of independent directors, reviews and discusses with management our guidelines, policies and practices regarding risk assessment and risk management as they relate to our financial condition, and oversees our financial risk exposures, including planning regarding business continuity and cybersecurity. In addition, the Audit Committee oversees our annual enterprise business risk assessment, which includes the review of cybersecurity risks we face and our associated risk mitigation measures, and receives semi-annual reports from management on cybersecurity matters, including areas such as threat intelligence, major cybersecurity risk areas, regulations and cybersecurity incidents. In addition, management updates the Audit Committee, as necessary, regarding significant cybersecurity incidents, as well as any incidents with lesser impact potential.

The Audit Committee reports to the Board of Directors regarding its activities related to cybersecurity. In addition, the Board of Directors also directly receives reports from management on our cybersecurity risk profile and on the performance of our data privacy and cybersecurity risk management program, semi-annually in alternating quarters with the Audit Committee.

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Our Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) and CISO, who are members of the management team, are primarily responsible for assessing and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats, including supervision of our internal security incident response team and external cybersecurity service providers. Our Disclosure Committee comprised of certain of our employees (including any applicable subcommittees thereof) participates in incident escalations and analyses. Our management team has relevant expertise in the following: (i) understanding of cybersecurity risks in enterprise operations, including information technology, information security, product security, physical security and legal, (ii) experience in overseeing risk management and understanding risks faced by enterprise operations and (iii) significant operating experience allowing them to provide insight into developing, implementing and assessing our operating plan. In addition, our CIO has over 25 years of experience in managing enterprise information technology, with a background in software development and technologies, and holds a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in electrical engineering, and our CISO has over 30 years of broad cybersecurity and information technology risk management experience, is a Certified Information Security Manager (“CISM”) and holds a Master's Degree in computer science and information systems.

Our management team, led by our CIO and CISO, stays informed about and monitors efforts to prevent, detect, mitigate and remediate cybersecurity risks and incidents, and is responsible for oversight and management of our cybersecurity risk management program. Our management team receives briefings from our internal Information Security team and the Disclosure Committee whenever applicable. Such briefings include information regarding threat intelligence and other information obtained from governmental, public or private sources, including external consultants engaged by us, and alerts and reports produced by security tools deployed in our information technology environment. Our CIO and CISO, as well as other management team members, also provide quarterly cybersecurity risk management program updates, to the Board of Directors or to the Audit Committee, in alternating quarters.

We own land and buildings at our corporate headquarters located in San Jose, California. We also own properties in New Mexico, India, Greece and Italy. As of December 31, 2025, the total square footage of our owned buildings was approximately 1,330,000.

We lease additional facilities in the United States and various other countries. We may sublease certain of these facilities where space is not fully utilized.

We believe that these facilities are adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any expansion of our operations.

For information regarding pending legal proceedings, related matters and associated risks, see Note 18 in the notes to consolidated financial statements under Item 15 of Part IV and the “Risk Factors” section under Item 1A of Part I of this Annual Report.

Not applicable.

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PART II.

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CDNS. As of January 31, 2026, we had 294 registered stockholders. Because many shares of our common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders that are represented by these record holders.

Dividends

We have never declared or paid, and do not anticipate declaring or paying in the foreseeable future, any cash dividends on our common stock. Any future determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to applicable laws and will depend on then existing conditions, including our financial condition, operating results, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our Board of Directors may deem relevant.

Stockholder Return Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative 5-year total stockholder return on our common stock relative to the cumulative total return of the Nasdaq Composite Index, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index. The graph assumes that the value of the investment in our common stock and in each index on January 2, 2021, (including reinvestment of dividends) was $100 and tracks it each year thereafter on the last day of our fiscal year through December 31, 2025, and for each index on the last day of the calendar year.

*$100 invested on 1/2/21 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends.

Indexes calculated on a month-end basis.

Copyright© 2025 Standard & Poor’s, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.

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The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

We are authorized to repurchase shares of our common stock under a publicly announced program that was most recently increased by our Board of Directors on May 8, 2025. Pursuant to this authorization, we may repurchase shares from time to time through open market repurchases, in privately negotiated transactions or by other means, including accelerated share repurchase transactions or other structured repurchase transactions, block trades or pursuant to trading plans intended to comply with Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act. The actual timing and amount of repurchases are subject to business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, stock price, acquisition opportunities and other factors. Our repurchase authorization does not obligate us to acquire a minimum amount of shares, does not have an expiration date and may be modified, suspended or terminated without prior notice.

The following table presents repurchases made under our publicly announced repurchase authorizations and shares surrendered by employees to satisfy income tax withholding obligations during the three months ended December 31, 2025:

(1)Shares purchased that were not part of our publicly announced repurchase programs represent employee surrender of shares of restricted stock to satisfy employee income tax withholding obligations due upon vesting, and do not reduce the dollar value that may yet be purchased under our publicly announced repurchase programs.

(2)The weighted average price paid per share of common stock does not include the cost of commissions.

(3)Our publicly announced share repurchase program was originally announced on February 1, 2017, and most recently increased by an additional $1.5 billion on May 8, 2025.

Shares Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

The information required by Item 201(d) of Regulation S-K under Item 5 is incorporated herein by reference from the section entitled “Equity Compensation Plan Information” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

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The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report and with Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” Please refer to the cautionary language at the beginning of Part I of this Annual Report regarding forward-looking statements.

Business Overview

Cadence® is a global market leader that develops computational, AI-driven software, accelerated hardware, and silicon IP products and solutions for engineers and scientists to bring new and innovative products to life. Our mission is to empower the world’s most innovative companies to deliver extraordinary electronic products that drive the global economy and improve everyday life. Our customers include semiconductor companies that design and manufacture ICs, as well as systems companies that design and manufacture electromechanical systems containing various types of semiconductor and other electronics.

Our strategy enables us to address our customers’ most challenging product development needs while expanding our capabilities beyond traditional chip design to encompass full electromechanical systems. By leveraging our deep expertise, we develop industry-leading computational AI-driven software, accelerated hardware, and IP solutions that adapt to our customers’ evolving design requirements. This flexibility helps our customers address critical business priorities such as reducing time-to-market and advancing sustainability goals. To address the growing complexity of modern design, we’ve integrated cutting-edge technologies including agentic and generative AI, machine learning, and digital twin algorithms, into our core products and solutions. These innovations, whether developed in-house or through strategic acquisition, empower our customers to achieve their business objectives with greater efficiency and precision.

We group our products into the following categories:

• Core EDA

• Semiconductor IP; and

• System Design and Analysis.

For additional information about our products, see the discussion in Item 1, “Business,” under the heading “Product Categories.”

Management uses certain performance indicators to manage our business, including revenue, certain elements of operating expenses and cash flow from operations, and we describe these items further below under the headings “Results of Operations” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Acquisitions

As part of our ISD strategy, we invest in and acquire complementary businesses, joint ventures, services and technologies and IP rights. The size and timing of these investments and acquisitions may affect comparability of revenue, expenses and cash flows between fiscal periods.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2024, we completed our acquisition of BETA CAE Systems International AG (“BETA CAE”), a system analysis platform provider of multi-domain, engineering simulation solutions. Revenue associated with our acquisition of BETA CAE is primarily classified as product and maintenance revenue in our System Design and Analysis product category, and cost of revenue associated with these contracts is primarily classified as cost of product and maintenance in our consolidated income statements.

During fiscal 2025, we completed multiple acquisitions, including our acquisition of a holding company containing the VLAB Works business (“VLAB Works”), our acquisition of the Artisan foundation IP business from Arm Limited and our acquisition of Secure-IC.

For fiscal 2025, the revenue associated with contracts assumed with our acquisition of VLAB Works was primarily classified as product and maintenance revenue in our Core EDA product category. Revenue associated with contracts assumed with our acquisition of the Artisan foundation IP business and Secure-IC was primarily classified as product and maintenance revenue in our Semiconductor IP product category. The cost of revenue associated with these contracts was primarily classified as cost of product and maintenance in our consolidated income statements.

On September 4, 2025, we entered into a definitive agreement with Hexagon to acquire its D&E business. This acquisition is expected to expand our System Design & Analysis portfolio, building upon our acquisition of BETA CAE in fiscal 2024. The acquisition includes substantially all of the subsidiaries and related assets comprising Hexagon's D&E business. Among other conditions, closing is conditioned on the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, and receipt of other required approvals under antitrust and foreign direct investment laws of certain other jurisdictions.

For additional information about our acquisitions, see Note 6 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.

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Macroeconomic and Geopolitical Environment

Because we operate globally, our business is subject to the effects of economic downturns or recessions in the regions in which we do business, volatility in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar, inflation, changing interest rates, expanded trade control laws and regulations, imposition of new or higher tariffs and geopolitical conflicts.

Trade control laws and regulations have amended over the past several years, including through the imposition of certain export control restrictions concerning advanced node IC production in China and the inclusion of additional Chinese technology companies on the BIS “Entity List” regulations governing the sale of certain technologies. In furtherance of these regulations, effective September 29, 2025, BIS issued an interim final rule that extended the export restrictions imposed on entities identified on the Entity List or the Military End-User List and other certain sanctioned parties, to entities that are 50% or more owned by one or more such entities. However, on November 11, 2025, BIS published a one-year suspension of the new rule that is currently set to expire on November 9, 2026, absent a future extension. We expect the impact of these current expanded trade control laws and regulations on our business to be limited, but we will continue to monitor future developments.

As previously disclosed, on May 23, 2025, BIS informed us that a license was required for the export, re-export or in-country transfer of EDA software and technology classified under Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 3D991 and 3E991 on the Commerce Control List (“EDA Software and Technology”), when a party to the transaction is located in China or is a Chinese “military end user” wherever located. On July 2, 2025, BIS informed us that the license requirements set forth in the May 23, 2025 letter from BIS were rescinded effective immediately. During this period, our revenue in China decreased primarily due to reduced deliveries of software offerings to our customers in China due to these license requirements. Following the rescission, we have restored access to EDA Software and Technology for affected customers in accordance with these updated U.S. export regulations. However, in light of continued negotiations between the U.S. and China, the United States may consider reimposing these or additional restrictions on the export, re-export or in-country transfer of EDA Software and Technology or our other products and services in China in the future.

Also, as previously disclosed, on July 27, 2025, we reached a settlement with each of BIS and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) that resolved matters relating to export control violations that occurred between 2015 and 2021 primarily involving sales initiated by a Cadence subsidiary of products and services valued at $45.3 million in total over that period to a customer in China, as well as the subsequent transfer of technology involved in thos

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Foreign Currency Risk

A material portion of our revenue, expenses and business activities are transacted in the U.S. dollar. In certain foreign countries where we price our products and services in U.S. dollars, a decrease in value of the local currency relative to the U.S. dollar results in an increase in the prices for our products and services compared to those products of our competitors that are priced in local currency. This could result in our prices being uncompetitive in certain markets.

In certain countries where we may invoice customers in the local currency, our revenue benefits from a weaker dollar and is adversely affected by a stronger dollar. The opposite impact occurs in countries where we record expenses in local currencies. In those cases, our costs and expenses benefit from a stronger dollar and are adversely affected by a weaker dollar. The fluctuations in our operating expenses outside the United States resulting from volatility in foreign exchange rates are not generally moderated by corresponding fluctuations in revenue from existing contracts.

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We enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to protect against currency exchange risks associated with existing assets, liabilities and other commitments. In connection with our pending acquisition of Hexagon’s D&E business, we entered into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to mitigate the impact of currency price fluctuations of the European Union euro relative to the U.S. dollar on the contractual cash consideration payable to Hexagon at close.

We enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to protect against currency exchange risks associated with existing assets and liabilities. A foreign currency forward exchange contract acts as a hedge by increasing in value when underlying assets decrease in value or underlying liabilities increase in value due to changes in foreign exchange rates. Conversely, a foreign currency forward exchange contract decreases in value when underlying assets increase in value or underlying liabilities decrease in value due to changes in foreign exchange rates. These forward contracts are not designated as accounting hedges, so the unrealized gains and losses are recognized in other income (expense), net, in advance of the actual foreign currency cash flows with the fair value of these forward contracts being recorded as accrued liabilities or other current assets.

We do not use forward contracts for trading purposes. Our forward contracts generally have maturities of 90 days or less. We enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts based on estimated future asset and liability exposures, and the effectiveness of our hedging program depends on our ability to estimate these future asset and liability exposures. Recognized gains and losses with respect to our current hedging activities will ultimately depend on how accurately we are able to match the amount of foreign currency forward exchange contracts with actual underlying asset and liability exposures.

The following table provides information about our foreign currency forward exchange contracts as of December 31, 2025. The information is provided in U.S. dollar equivalent amounts. The table presents the notional amounts, at contract exchange rates, and the weighted average contractual foreign currency exchange rates expressed as units of the foreign currency per U.S. dollar, which in some cases may not be the market convention for quoting a particular currency. All of these forward contracts mature during June 2026.

As of December 31, 2024, our foreign currency exchange contracts had an aggregate principal amount of $927.6 million, and an estimated fair value of $(7.5) million.

We have performed sensitivity analyses as of December 31, 2025, and December 31, 2024, using a modeling technique that measures the change in the fair values arising from a hypothetical 10% change in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to applicable foreign currency exchange rates, with all other variables held constant. The foreign currency exchange rates we used in performing the sensitivity analysis were based on market rates in effect at each respective date. The sensitivity analyses indicated that a hypothetical 10% decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar would result in a decrease to the fair value of our foreign currency forward exchange contracts of $213.1 million and $18.3 million as of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively, while a hypothetical 10% increase in the value of the U.S. dollar would result in an increase to the fair value of our foreign currency forward exchange contracts of $219.4 million and $12.7 million as of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

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We actively monitor our foreign currency risks, but our foreign currency hedging activities may not substantially offset the impact of fluctuations in currency exchange rates on our results of operations, cash flows and financial position.

Interest Rate Risk

Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our portfolio of cash, cash equivalents, investments in debt securities and any balances outstanding on our 2024 Credit Facility. We are exposed to interest rate fluctuations in many of the world’s leading industrialized countries, but our interest income and expense is most sensitive to fluctuations in the general level of United States interest rates. In this regard, changes in United States interest rates affect the interest earned on our cash and cash equivalents and the costs associated with foreign currency hedges. All highly liquid securities with a maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase are considered to be cash equivalents. The carrying value of our interest-bearing instruments approximated fair value as of December 31, 2025.

Our investments in debt securities had a fair value of approximately $71.0 million and $50.3 million as of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively, that may decline in value if market interest rates rise. As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, an increase in the market rates of interest of 1% would result in a decrease in the fair values of our marketable debt securities by approximately $2.8 million and $2.0 million, respectively.

Interest rates under our 2024 Credit Facility are variable, so interest expense could be adversely affected by increases in interest rates, particularly for periods when we maintain an outstanding balance. As of December 31, 2025, there were no borrowings outstanding under our 2024 Credit Facility.

Interest rates for our 2024 Credit Facility can fluctuate based on changes in market interest rates and in interest rate margins that vary based on the credit ratings of our unsecured debt. Assuming our 2024 Credit Facility was fully drawn and we were to fully exercise our right to increase borrowing capacity under our 2024 Credit Facility, each quarter point change in interest rates would result in a $4.4 million change in annual interest expense on our indebtedness under our 2024 Credit Facility. For an additional description of the 2024 Credit Facility, see Note 5 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.

Equity Price Risk

Equity Investments

We have a portfolio of equity investments that includes marketable equity securities and non-marketable investments. Our equity investments are made primarily in connection with our strategic investment program. Under our strategic investment program, from time to time, we make cash investments in companies with technologies that are potentially strategically important to us. See Note 14 in the notes to consolidated financial statements for an additional description of these investments.

The financial statements required by Item 8 are submitted as a separate section of this Annual Report. See Part IV, Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.”

None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rule 13a-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), we evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2025.

Based on their evaluation our CEO and CFO have concluded that, as of December 31, 2025, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2025, that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls

Our management, including our CEO and CFO, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. Internal control over financial reporting, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of internal control are met. Further, the design of internal control must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of the control must be considered relative to their costs. While our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are designed to provide reasonable assurance of their effectiveness, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within Cadence, have been detected.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Our management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2025, our internal control over financial reporting is effective based on these criteria. Our independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting, which is included in Part IV, Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.”

Insider Trading Arrangements

During the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2025, our directors and officers (as defined in Rule 16a-1(f) under the Exchange Act) adopted or terminated the contracts, instructions or written plans for the purchase or sale of our securities set forth in the table below.

• Contract, instruction or written plan intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act.

(1) Ms. Brennan previously adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement on December 12, 2024, that expires on March 16, 2026, or, if earlier, upon completion of all authorized transactions under such plan (the "Prior Plan"). Trading under the new plan adopted on November 24, 2025 may not begin until after all trades under Ms. Brennan's Prior Plan are completed or expired without execution.

Not applicable.

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PART III.

We have an insider trading policy (the “Securities Trading Policy”) governing the purchase, sale and other dispositions of our securities that applies to all of our personnel, including directors, officers, employees, and other covered persons. We also follow procedures for our repurchase of our securities. We believe that our Securities Trading Policy and repurchase procedures are reasonably designed to promote compliance with applicable insider trading laws, rules and regulations, and listing standards. A copy of our Securities Trading Policy is filed as Exhibit 19.1 to this Form 10-K.

The information required by Item 10 as to directors is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Proposal 1 - Election of Directors” and, as applicable, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management - Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Our executive officers are listed at the end of Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report.

The information required by Item 10 as to Cadence’s code of ethics is incorporated herein by reference from the section entitled “Corporate Governance - Code of Business Conduct” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by Item 10 as to the director nomination process and our Audit Committee is incorporated by reference from the section entitled “Board of Directors - Committees of the Board” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by Item 11 is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Board of Directors - Components of Director Compensation,” “Board of Directors - Director Compensation for Fiscal 2025,” “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” “Compensation Committee Report,” “Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation,” “Compensation of Executive Officers,” “Potential Payments Upon Termination or Change In Control” and “Pay Ratio Disclosure” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by Item 12 is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” and “Equity Compensation Plan Information” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by Item 13 is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Certain Transactions” and “Board of Directors - Director Independence” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

The information required by Item 14 is incorporated herein by reference from the section entitled “Fees Billed to Cadence by the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm During Fiscal 2025 and 2024” in our definitive proxy statement for our 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

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PART IV.

The exhibits listed in the accompanying Exhibit Index are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Annual Report.

The exhibits filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Annual Report contain agreements to which Cadence is a party. These agreements are included to provide information regarding their terms and are not intended to provide any other factual or disclosure information about Cadence or the other parties to the agreements. Certain of the agreements contain representations and warranties by each of the parties to the applicable agreement, and any such representations and warranties have been made solely for the benefit of the other parties to the applicable agreement as of specified dates, may apply materiality standards that are different than those applied by investors, and may be subject to important qualifications and limitations that are not necessarily reflected in the agreement. Accordingly, these representations and warranties may not describe the actual state of affairs as of the date they were made or at any other time and should not be relied upon as statements of factual information.

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© 2026 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Cadence, the Cadence logo, and the other Cadence marks found at www.cadence.com/go/trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the related consolidated statements of income, of comprehensive income, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide

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None.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

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POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Anirudh Devgan, John M. Wall and Marc Taxay, and each of them, as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their, his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated: