This is how acquisitions in EDA are supposed to work:

  1. Friendly, not hostile
  2. Complementary products, not overlapping
  3. Egos checked at the door, no whining in the press
  4. Compatible management philosophy, clear org chart post-merger

Apache has created a handful of power and signal integrity point tools, and this acquisition will help them broaden their tool suite to include a Design For Power flow. I wrote favorably about Apache at DAC.

The former Sequence CEO has a Senior VP and GM title at Apache, so the marching orders are clear. I would hope that all the developers are kept to keep the product lines strong. There’s some functional duplication in all acquisitions, so let’s see how this plays out.