Cadence Announces Chief Financial Officer Transition Plan

• Geoff Ribar to be Appointed Chief Financial Officer; Current Chief Financial Officer Kevin S. Palatnik to Remain with Cadence Through Transition
• Company Affirms Outlook for Third Quarter and Full Year 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif. , 27 Sep 2010 -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced that Geoff Ribar, chief financial officer of Telegent Systems, Inc., will be appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer of Cadence effective on or about November 1, 2010. Kevin S. Palatnik is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Mr. Palatnik will remain with the company as an advisor to ensure a smooth and orderly transition of duties to Mr. Ribar, leaving by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

“The Cadence Board of Directors and I are pleased that Geoff Ribar has agreed to serve as the CFO of Cadence,” said Lip-Bu Tan, president and chief executive officer of Cadence. “Geoff is an experienced executive who brings to Cadence a wealth of financial, IT and operational expertise at public and private high tech companies, including SiRF, Matrix Semiconductor, nVidia and Advanced Micro Devices. We are confident Geoff’s deep experience will serve Cadence well as we build upon the important progress we have made with our EDA360 strategy and further expand Cadence’s position with customers, increase top line growth and improve profitability. We look forward to a smooth transition as Kevin will remain with Cadence through February 2011 and share his deep knowledge of Cadence with Geoff.”

Mr. Tan continued, “On behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire Cadence team, I want to express our deep gratitude to Kevin for his significant contributions and dedication to Cadence over the last nine years, serving in many capacities, including most recently as CFO and previously as Corporate Controller. Kevin is a world class CFO who has been instrumental in navigating Cadence through tremendous change during the last two years. In particular, Kevin led the transition to a highly ratable revenue model and played an important role in planning and executing a company-wide restructuring plan. We are grateful to have benefitted from Kevin’s exceptional financial, operational and strategic leadership and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Third Quarter and Full Year 2010 Outlook Affirmed

As disclosed in its second quarter earnings release of July 28, 2010 (as updated on our Current Report on Form 8-K, dated August 4, 2010), for the third quarter of 2010, the company expects total revenue in the range of $225 million to $235 million. Third quarter GAAP net loss per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $(0.10) to $(0.08). Net income per diluted share using the non-GAAP measure defined below is expected to be in the range of $0.01 to $0.03.

For the full year 2010, the company expects total revenue in the range of $900 million to $925 million. On a GAAP basis, net loss per diluted share for fiscal 2010 is expected to be in the range of $(0.04) to $(0.00). Using the non-GAAP measure defined below, net income per diluted share for fiscal 2010 is expected to be in the range of $0.12 to $0.16.

In addition to using GAAP results to evaluate Cadence's business, management believes it is useful to measure results using a non-GAAP measure of net income or net loss, which excludes, as applicable, amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, integration and acquisition-related costs, acquisition-related income tax benefits, shareholder litigation costs, gains or losses and expenses or credits related to non-qualified deferred compensation plan assets, restructuring charges and credits, amortization of discount on convertible notes, losses on extinguishment of debt, equity in losses or income from investments, write-down of investments, and gains or losses on the sale of investments. Non-GAAP net income or net loss is adjusted by the amount of additional taxes or tax benefit that the company would accrue if it used non-GAAP results instead of GAAP results to calculate the company's tax liability. Investors and potential investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of the business outlook from GAAP net loss and diluted net loss per share to non-GAAP net income and diluted net income per share, available in our second quarter 2010 Financial Schedules, which can be found in the investor relations portion of our website at www.cadence.com/cadence/investor_relations.

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design, verify, and implement advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.