The acquisition enables the two industry leaders to join forces and establish an even more comprehensive and integrated electronics system design platform that allows for collaboration across component, subsystem, and system-level design. This aligns with Renesas' ambitions to lead the market in user experience and innovation at the system level for electronics system designers. The vision is also to enable significantly faster innovation and lower barriers to entry for system designers by reducing development resources and inefficiencies.
As technology advances, the design and integration of electronic systems has become increasingly complex. The current electronics system design flow is a complicated and iterative process that involves multiple stakeholders and design steps, from component selection and evaluation to simulation and PCB physical design. Engineers must be able to design systems that are not only functional but also efficient and cost-effective under shortened development cycles.
"Together, Renesas and Altium, under a shared vision, aim to build an integrated and open electronics system design and lifecycle management platform that unifies these steps at a system level. The acquisition brings together Altium’s sophisticated cloud platform capabilities with Renesas’ strong portfolio of embedded solutions, combining high-performance processors, analog, power and connectivity. The combination will also enable integration with third-party vendors across the ecosystem to execute all electronic design steps seamlessly on the cloud," the acquisition announcement states.
"Development processes continue to evolve and accelerate. With our Purpose "To Make Our Lives Easier" in mind, our vision is to make electronics design accessible to the broader market to allow more innovation through a cloud-based platform," says Hidetoshi Shibata, CEO of Renesas.
"I strongly believe that electronics is the single most critical industry to building a smart and sustainable world. Renesas’s visionary leadership and commitment to making electronics accessible to all resonates strongly with Altium. Altium’s vision of industry transformation finds its fullest expression in service of this grand vision of Renesas," adds Aram Mirkazemi, CEO of Altium. “Having worked closely with Renesas as a partner for nearly two years, we are excited to be part of the Renesas team as we continue to successfully execute and grow."
Altium's history began in 1985 from Australia as one of the world's first printed-circuit board (PCB) design tool providers. The company has grown into a global market leader with the most popular PCB software tool in use today. Its software tools empower and connect PCB designers, part suppliers and manufacturers to develop and manufacture electronics products faster and more efficiently. In June 2023, Renesas announced that it had standardized development of all PCB design on the Altium 365 cloud-based platform. Renesas has been working with Altium to publish all its products’ ECAD libraries to the Altium Public Vault. With features such as manufacturer part search on Altium 365, developers can choose Renesas parts directly from the Altium library for faster time to market.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the second half of 2024. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Altium shareholders, Australian court approval as well as regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Altium will continue to be led by CEO Aram Mirkazemi as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renesas, headquartered in San Diego, California.
www.renesas.com
www.altium.com
