With their merger, component manufacturer and system developer Renesas and PCB CAD software provider Altium have created qualitatively new opportunities to revolutionize the creation process of electronics. The first product in this direction will be Renesas 365, powered by Altium, which was announced this spring for 2026.
Anyone who has followed the development history of Altium, the Australian provider of PCB CAD software, since it was founded 40 years ago would never have imagined until recently that this successful 'software company' would one day fall into Japanese hands. All the greater astonishment was caused by a press release dated February 15, 2024. It announced that Renesas Electronics Corporation had signed a Scheme Implementation Agreement (SIA) with Altium. Under Australian law, it intends to acquire 100% of the software company as part of a scheme of arrangement [1]. The successful integration into the Group was then announced on July 31, 2024. For the sake of form, it should be mentioned here for the following explanations that although Renesas Electronics Corporation is only one part of Renesas' global network with numerous subsidiaries and affiliated companies, it is often referred to as Renesas for simplicity's sake.
Curiously, the German Federal Cartel Office issued a press release on May 14, 2024, in which the authority announced that it had cleared the planned takeover. The market investigation had revealed clear indications of a significant market position of Altium in 'mainstream' software, but since Altium and Renesas were active in different areas, there were no (horizontal) competitive overlaps [2]. It is likely that the competition authorities did not even realize the technical and economic significance of this merger for electronics development.
The Bundeskartellamt also states that 'In the semiconductor markets in which Renesas is active, the investigations have not revealed any adverse effects relevant under competition law, such as a preference for Renesas semiconductor products in the Altium software in product proposals or the integrated parts database. Altium users often maintain their own parts databases and, at least in larger companies, the design of printed circuit boards and the manufacturer-independent purchasing of semiconductors are carried out in separate departments. Finally, Renesas' access to Altium customers' product information is not expected to have any relevant effects on semiconductor markets under competition law. So much for the German competition authorities. However, the Renesas 365 platform announced in March 2025 shows that the competition authorities were mistaken in their assessment.
Component manufacturer takes over software provider
Altium, originally known as Protel Systems Pty Ltd, launched its first DOS-based layout tool for printed circuit boards in 1985, the year it was founded in Australia. Today, the company is headquartered in California with around 800 employees worldwide and successfully offers Altium Designer, one of the leading international PCB design tools, as evidenced by the steadily growing sales figures quoted below. According to [3], it is used by more than 100,000 engineers at 44,000 customers, who in turn have purchased almost 64,000 licenses. The company has locations in the USA, Australia, China, Europe and Japan, as well as a rapidly growing network of distribution partners and over 50 authorized value-added resellers. Renesas is very likely to use this extensive base for its own purposes.
Altium claims that Altium Designer is the industry's most popular professional PCB design tool and that it is developing the fastest growing EDA solutions in the world(Fig. 1). These are statements that naturally arouse the interest of forward-looking large companies in the electronics industry such as Renesas.
Fig. 1: Altium Designer's unified design environment and data model represent a significant advance in PCB design technology
Fig. 2: Renesas 365 is based on five interconnected solution pillarsItis impressive to see how a small idea at the University of Tasmania has evolved into an international player that is now hopefully heading for an even more significant future under the wing of Renesas.
Renesas Electronics Corporation is a leading global provider of semiconductor solutions with around 22,700 employees worldwide and headquarters in Tokyo(Fig. 2).
Its production and development focus is broadly diversified:
- Microcontrollers (MCUs): Renesas is considered one of the largest manufacturers of microcontrollers in the world. The well-known product families include RH850, RX, RL78 and R-Car
- Analog and power semiconductors: The company offers a wide range of analog ICs and power management solutions for various applications
- System-on-chip solutions (SoC) and ASICs: Renesas develops highly integrated chips for complex applications such as automotive, industry and IoT
- Automotive technology: Renesas is particularly strong in the field of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving and vehicle control systems
- Industry & IoT: Renesas' solutions are used, for example, in smart factories, energy supply, sensor technology and networked devices
Founded in 2010, the semiconductor company has an interesting history. In a nutshell: Renesas Electronics is the merger of the spin-off semiconductor divisions of Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC. The name Renesas stands for Renaissance Semiconductor for Advanced Solutions - a fitting expression for the company's innovation efforts. In Europe, the company is represented by its subsidiaries Renesas Electronics Europe GmbH, headquartered in Düsseldorf, and Renesas Electronics Germany in Dresden [1].
However, this extremely brief description ignores the fact that Renesas' path since its foundation in 2010 has been very bumpy and, according to Wikipedia, has been associated with extremely highs as well as existential lows, e.g. due to the great Tohoku earthquake in 2011 [4]. It includes several years of financial rescue measures by the Japanese government as well as several company sales and acquisitions. The acquired companies include Intersil (2016), IDT (2018), Dialog Semiconductor (2021), Panthronics (2023), Transphorm (2024). Overall, it can be said that the acquisitions served to prepare for future profitable technology developments: Automotive electronics, NFC communication, gallium nitride production, etc. Not only the recent acquisition of Altium, but also the aforementioned company acquisitions are an expression of Renesas' desire to stabilize itself and purposefully continue its policy of digitalization and diversification.
Costs and organizational consequences of the takeover
Fig. 3: Hidetoshi Shibata has been CEO of Renesas since 2019RenesasElectronics Corporation, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas, acquired all outstanding shares of Altium for a cash price of A$68.50 (Australian dollars) per share, representing a total equity value of approximately A$9.1 billion ($5.9 billion) and an enterprise value of A$8.8 billion. Renesas financed the purchase of Altium through bank loans, according to a company statement. The software provider was removed from the official list of the Australian Securities Exchange at the close of trading on August 2, 2024. It will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary under the Renesas umbrella. Aram Mirkazemi continues as CEO of Altium and additionally assumes the role of Senior Vice President and Head of Software & Digitalization at Renesas. Hidetoshi Shibata, a relatively young manager, took the helm of the company in 2019. As CEO, the former CFO of Renesas Electronics Corporation was tasked with ensuring that the company's business performance improved and that the share price no longer stagnated(Fig. 3).
Giant took over dwarf
Although Altium Limited sees itself as the world's leading provider of PCB design tools and has determinedly built up a strong leading position in the international PCB design software market since its foundation, a comparison of the two companies' sales suggests that the 'giant' Renesas has swallowed up the relative 'dwarf' Altium. According to the latest financial reports, Renesas Electronics achieved a turnover of €9.44 billion in 2023. This is a reduction compared to the turnover in 2022, which amounted to € 10.68 billion. In 2024, turnover had slipped to €8.27 billion [5].
There are several reasons for the fluctuations in turnover, particularly in the period 2022-2025:
- Recovery from Corona and boom in 2021-2022: Strong demand for chips for automotive and industrial applications drove sales upwards
- Decline in 2023: After the boom, demand normalized, leading to a decline in sales
- Acquisitions and integration effects: Renesas acquired several companies (e.g. Transphorm and Altium), which may lead to short-term costs and sales distortions
- Exchange rates and geopolitical risks: As a Japanese company, Renesas is exposed to exchange rate fluctuations and international trade risks, which have affected sales. In particular, the yen depreciated significantly against the US dollar and the euro from 2023 onwards
In contrast, Altium's sales figures show the opposite trend, namely a strong upward trend. The company reported revenue of USD 263.29 million (approx. € 230 million) for the 2023 financial year ending June 30, 2023, compared to USD 220.81 million (€ 192 million as at July 2025) in the 2022 financial year. As at December 31, 2023, Altium reported revenue of USD 138.6 million for the first half of the 2024 financial year, which corresponds to growth of 15.9% compared to the first half of the 2023 financial year. The financial services provider Eulerpool Research Systems (Singapore) issued a forecast on Eulerpool.com that Altium's revenue could grow to around USD 318 million in the full 2024 financial year. However, Altium no longer provides its own figures following the takeover by Renesas.
Technical objectives of the acquisition
The acquisition enables two industry leaders to join forces and establish an integrated and open cloud platform for electronics system design and lifecycle management that enables collaboration across component, subsystem and system levels(Fig. 4). The platform aims to promote the integration and standardization of various electronic design data and functions as well as improved component lifecycle management. At the same time, it enables seamless digital iteration of design processes and thus increases overall productivity. According to Renesas, this significantly accelerates innovation and lowers barriers to entry for system designers by reducing development resources and inefficiencies [6].
The transaction is in line with Renesas' digitalization strategy and is the company's first significant step towards providing electronic system designers with an enhanced user experience and system-level innovation. Altium's products, including Altium Designer and Altium 365, will be integrated into Renesas' strategy to provide design solutions.
Hidetoshi Shibata, CEO of Renesas, assessed the new situation in his acquisition statement on August 1, 2024 as follows: "This is a historic milestone for Renesas and Altium as we take another important step forward in providing an enhanced user experience for electronic system designers. The integrated and open platform for electronic system design and lifecycle management that we plan to develop together will make electronics accessible to a broader market, for all companies, regardless of their size or industry. I want to reiterate that our commitment to maintaining Altium customers' data security and compliance will continue to be our top priority. With the addition of Altium's design software and cloud platform capabilities, we look forward to working together to change the future of electronic systems design."
Fig. 4: Renesas' contribution to electric car manufacturing ranges from individual components to image: Renesas system solutions
Renesas 365, powered by Altium
Fig. 5: Ted PawelaIna press release dated March 6, 2025, Renesas and Altium announced the launch of Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, effectively the first fruit of the new post-merger collaboration platform [7]. As announced at the time of the Altium acquisition, the industry solution is being developed to streamline the development of electronic systems from silicon selection to system lifecycle management. The transformative solution is expected to be available in early 2026. This can be interpreted as meaning that a lot of work still needs to be done on it. However, Renesas 365 was already previewed during Embedded World 2025 in Nuremberg in March.
"I have never seen anything like Renesas 365. A pure software company like Altium teaming up with a silicon manufacturer like Renesas ... there's no other combination like it. It's unique in an industry that has been fragmented for decades."
Ted Pawela, VP and Head of Costumer Success, Digital Industries
Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, is based on the Altium 365 platform and, according to Renesas, eliminates inefficiencies, connects teams, enables solution discovery and ensures digital continuity, accelerating development and empowering engineers to create better, smarter products. The announced solution has been highly praised in the industry, for example by Ted Pawela, Digital Industries(Fig. 5).
Pioneering work for future innovative electronic systems
Renesas 365 will address long-standing challenges in the industry. The development of embedded systems often suffers from manual component searches, fragmented documentation and isolated teams. Renesas 365 addresses these challenges by combining Altium's cloud platform with Renesas' comprehensive embedded computing, analog, connectivity and power portfolio [7].
The integration of hardware, software and lifecycle data in a single digital environment aims to
- Optimize workflows
- Accelerate time-to-market of new electronic products and ensure digital traceability and real-time insights
- Improve decision-making from concept to deployment
As a result, the Japanese company sees the introduction of Renesas 365 as an important milestone on the way to realizing Renesas' digitalization vision. The new software package is set to transform the way smart, connected electronic systems are designed, developed and sustainably managed.
Five integrated pillars
Renesas 365 is based on five interconnected solution pillars that ensure seamless integration at system level and a continuous digital context throughout the entire product lifecycle [7]:
- Silicon - Renesas 365 serves as the foundation for advanced electronic solutions, ensuring that every silicon component is application-ready and optimized for software-defined products. Whether for ultra-low power IoT devices or sophisticated AI-driven applications, Renesas 365 offers silicon that integrates seamlessly into the broader system
- Discover - This is based on Altium and allows engineers to find not just components, but complete solutions from Renesas' extensive portfolio for faster and more accurate system design
- Develop - Based on Altium, it provides a multidisciplinary cloud-based development environment that ensures real-time collaboration between hardware, software and mechanical teams
- Lifecycle - Built on Altium, it creates permanent digital traceability, enables seamless over-the-air (OTA) updates and ensures compliance and security from concept to deployment
- Software - Provides AI-enabled development tools to ensure software-defined systems are optimized for modern applications
Three of the five pillars are based on Altium's development results. If you take a closer look, you can assume that Renesas probably also wants to boost its component sales with these five pillars, because as reported earlier, the component manufacturer's sales have fallen steadily in recent years. This was certainly an important consideration in the takeover of Altium.
Fig. 6: The Renesas plant in Hitachinaka, 128 km northeast of Tokyo, is the company's main facility for the production of automotive chips.
For the next generation of electronics
Renesas 365 is said to be designed for the next generation of electronics innovation and aligns with emerging industry trends by providing a unified software framework for software-defined systems that includes low to high computing power. It also provides AI-enabled development tools that enable real-time, low-power AI inference at the edge, as well as advanced security, compliance tracking and automated OTA updates to ensure secure lifecycle management.
The platform's seamless integration ensures existing workflows remain uninterrupted, supporting everything from custom AI models to advanced RTOS implementations such as PX5 RTOS. It also helps bridge the software gap between MCU and MPU worlds.
Setting a new industry standard: Connecting silicon to systems
Renesas 365 is designed to be more than technological advancement: it is the next step in the digital transformation of electronics, bridging the gap between silicon and system development. By ensuring seamless collaboration, real-time decision making and persistent system context, Renesas and Altium will redefine how electronics systems are designed, developed and sustainably protected in a connected world - from silicon selection to full system realization.
References
[1] www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-acquire-pcb-design-software-leader-altium-make-electronics-design-accessible-broader-market(accessed 1.8.2025)
[2] www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2024/14_05_2024_Halbleiter.html (accessed 1.8.2025)
[3] www.altium.com/de/company/altium-overview(accessed 1.8.2025)
[4] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renesas_Electronics (Retrieved 1.8.2025)
[5] https://de.investing.com/pro/DB:NEN/explorer/total_rev (Retrieved 1.8.2025)
[6] www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/renesas-completes-acquisition-altium(Retrieved 1.8.2025)
[7]www.altium.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/renesas-and-altium-announce-introduction-renesas-365-powered-altium">www.altium.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/renesas-and-altium-announce-introduction-renesas-365-powered-altium(Retrieved 1.8.2025)
