In a March 13, 2009 blog entry in this space, COFES attendees were invited to check out the latest financial performance numbers of the leading MCAD, EDA and IP vendors for Q4 2008, by downloading the three most recent quarterly Industry Commentaries from the IBSystems’ website. In those reports, only the small IP category defied recessionary forces by posting a combined revenue increase for Q4 2008, while both the covered MCAD and EDA categories posted revenue declines.

To supplement those numbers, the EDA Consortium (EDAC) this week released its revenue report for the entire EDA Industry for Q4 2008.

On April 7, 2009, the EDAC Market Statistics Service (MSS) announced that total electronic design automation (EDA) industry revenue for Q4 2008 declined 17.7% to $1318.7 million, compared to $1602.7 million in Q4 2007. This 17.7% decline for the whole EDA industry was smaller than the 24% decline for the five selected EDA vendors covered in the March EDA Industry Commentary, including the Big 3. Note that the Big 3 EDA vendors (Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys) combined accounted for $809 million in Q4 revenue, or 61% of the $1318.7 million for the EDA industry as a whole.

“Declines in CAE, IC Physical Design and Verification, and PCB/MCM resulted in an overall (EDA industry revenue) decline for Q4 2008,” said Dr. Walden C. Rhines, EDA Consortium chair and Mentor Graphics CEO and chairman. “For Q4, the double-digit (percentage) drop(s) occurred in all regions except Western Europe, which showed an 8.4% decline.”

Total Intellectual Property revenue in Q4 2008 enjoyed a 7.6% increase over Q4 2007, and overall Services revenue was up 24.5% from Q4 2007, the only two categories to post increases.