Semiconductor Design Tool Company CEO Sells Hundreds of Billions in Company Stock in Two Days

An SEC filing shows that Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) CEO Anirudh Devgan and a senior executive exercised stock options and sold part of their holdings between late May and early June. Under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, Devgan exercised tens of thousands of options on May 22 and June 1–2, then sold shares worth approximately $49 million (about KRW 700 billion) in the open market. He still retains several hundred million dollars’ worth of Cadence stock.

On the same day, Senior Vice President Qinchy Teng exercised a portion of her options and sold some shares, securing about $1.68 million (roughly KRW 20 billion) in cash, while continuing to hold a significant stake.

Meanwhile, Cadence recently announced a long-term collaboration with Samsung Foundry to certify design and analysis tools for its second-generation 2 nm process and 3D-IC technology, and to expand its memory and interface IP portfolio. The company has also reinforced partnerships with leading foundries by co-developing an agentic AI-based design flow for next-generation AI chips with TSMC.

In addition, through collaborations with NVIDIA and Google, Cadence is scaling AI-driven design solutions—such as the ChipStack AI Super Agent—in cloud and GPU-accelerated environments. In its Q1 2026 earnings report, the company raised its full-year revenue guidance, attributing the increase to strong AI demand.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, Cadence Design Systems is a global leader in electronic design automation and system design and analysis software, providing essential tools and IP for chip and AI system design to major semiconductor and IT companies.

Anirudh Devgan is an engineer-turned-executive who built his career in semiconductor design and electronic design automation. As CEO over the past few years, he has driven the expansion of AI-centric design automation and multiphysics analysis businesses.