益華電腦 (CDNS) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. My name is Abby, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Cadence fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，午安。我叫艾比，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。在此，我謹代表 Cadence 公司歡迎各位參加 2025 財年第四季及全年業績電話會議。（操作說明）

Thank you. And I will now turn the call over to Richard Gu, Vice President of Investor Relations for Cadence. Please go ahead.

謝謝。現在我將把電話交給 Cadence 投資人關係副總裁 Richard Gu。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. I would like to welcome everyone to our fourth quarter of 2025 earnings conference call.

謝謝接線生。歡迎各位參加我們2025年第四季財報電話會議。

I'm joined today by Anirudh Devgan, President and Chief Executive Officer; and John Wall, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The webcast of this call and a copy of today's prepared remarks will be available on our website, cadence.com.

今天與我一同出席的有總裁兼執行長阿尼魯德·德夫根，以及資深副總裁兼財務長約翰·沃爾。本次電話會議的網路直播以及今天準備好的演講稿將在我們的網站 cadence.com 上提供。

Today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements, including our outlook on future business and operating results. Due to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in today's discussion.

今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述，包括我們對未來業務和經營績效的展望。由於存在風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與今天討論中預測或暗示的結果有重大差異。

For information on factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, CFO commentary, and today's earnings release. All forward-looking statements during this call are based on estimates and information available to us as of today, and we disclaim any obligation to update them.

有關可能導致實際結果出現差異的因素的信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括我們最新的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格、首席財務官評論以及今天的收益報告。本次電話會議中的所有前瞻性陳述均基於截至今日我們所掌握的估計和信息，我們不承擔更新這些陳述的任何義務。

In addition, all financial measures discussed on this call are non-GAAP unless otherwise specified. The non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for GAAP results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release. For the Q&A session today, we would ask that you observe a limited one question only. If time permits, you can requeue with additional questions.

此外，除非另有說明，本次電話會議中討論的所有財務指標均為非GAAP指標。非GAAP指標不應與GAAP結果割裂看待，也不應作為GAAP結果的替代。今天的獲利報告中包含了GAAP與非GAAP指標的調節表。今天的問答環節，請各位提問者僅限一個問題。如果時間允許，您可以重新排隊提出其他問題。

Now I'll turn the call over to Anirudh.

現在我把電話交給阿尼魯德。

Thank you, Richard. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that Cadence delivered excellent results for the fourth quarter, closing an outstanding 2025 with 14% revenue growth and 45% operating margin for the year. We finished 2025 with a record backlog of $7.8 billion, well ahead of plan, reflecting broad-based portfolio strength and increasing contributions from our AI solutions.

謝謝你，理查。各位下午好，感謝各位今天參加我們的節目。我很高興地報告，Cadence 第四季業績優異，2025 年全年營收成長 14%，營業利潤率達到 45%，為公司輝煌的業績畫上了圓滿的句號。2025 年末，我們的積壓訂單額達到創紀錄的 78 億美元，遠超計劃，這反映了我們廣泛的產品組合實力以及人工智慧解決方案貢獻的不斷增長。

I would like to emphasize the essential nature of Cadence's engineering software. As I have stated previously, our platform is best viewed as a three-layer cake framework: accelerate compute being the base layer, principled simulation and optimization as the critical middle layer, and AI as the top layer to drive intelligent exploration and generation. This holistic approach ensures that our AI solutions are not just fast, but physically accurate and grounded in scientific truth.

我想強調Cadence工程軟體的重要性。正如我之前所說，我們的平台最好被視為一個三層蛋糕框架：加速運算作為基礎層，有原則的模擬和優化作為關鍵的中間層，人工智慧作為頂層，用於驅動智慧探索和生成。這種整體方法確保我們的人工智慧解決方案不僅速度快，而且物理上準確，並以科學事實為基礎。

Building on this foundation, we are deploying agentic AI workflows powered by intelligent agents that autonomously call our underlying tools. AI flows act as a force multiplier, enabling our customers to significantly expand design exploration and accelerate time to market, while driving increased product usage and deeper engagement across our entire platform.

在此基礎上，我們正​​在部署由智慧代理驅動的智慧AI工作流程，這些智慧代理可以自主調用我們的底層工具。AI 流程起到倍增器的作用，使我們的客戶能夠大幅擴展設計探索並加快產品上市時間，同時推動整個平台上的產品使用率和更深入的參與。

We see growing momentum on both AI for Design and Design for AI fronts. On AI for Design, our Cadence AI portfolio continues to gain traction with market-shaping customers. Last week, we launched ChipStack AI Super Agent, the world's first agentic AI solution for automating chip design and verification. It's built upon our proven physically accurate product and provides up to 10x productivity improvement for various tasks, including design coding, generating test benches, and debugging.

我們看到人工智慧應用於設計和設計應用於人工智慧這兩個領域都呈現出越來越強勁的發展動能。在人工智慧設計領域，我們的 Cadence AI 產品組合持續受到引領市場的客戶的青睞。上週，我們推出了 ChipStack AI 超級代理，這是世界上第一個用於自動化晶片設計和驗證的智慧體 AI 解決方案。它基於我們久經考驗的實體精確產品，可為各種任務（包括設計編碼、生成測試平台和調試）提供高達 10 倍的生產力提升。

ChipStack has received compelling endorsements from Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Altera, and Tenstorrent, among others. Our other AI products, such as Cadence Cerebrus, Verisium, and Allegro X AI, are proliferating at scale. And our LLM-based design agents powered by JedAI data platform are delivering impressive results.

ChipStack 已獲得包括高通、英偉達、Altera 和 Tenstorrent 在內的多家公司的鼎力支持。我們的其他人工智慧產品，如 Cadence Cerebrus、Verisium 和 Allegro X AI，正在大規模普及。我們基於LLM的設計代理，由JedAI數據平台提供支持，取得了令人矚目的成果。

On Design for AI, the infrastructure AI phase is in full swing, with AI architectures growing in scale and complexity. Customers are increasingly standardizing on Cadence's full flows to address their performance, power, and time-to-market challenges. We continue to closely collaborate with market leaders on their next-generation AI designs, spanning training, inference, and scaling.

在以人工智慧為導向的設計中，基礎設施人工智慧階段正在如火如荼地進行，人工智慧架構的規模和複雜性都在不斷成長。客戶越來越多地採用 Cadence 的全流程解決方案來應對其在效能、功耗和上市時間方面的挑戰。我們繼續與市場領導者密切合作，共同開發下一代人工智慧設計，涵蓋訓練、推理和擴展等方面。

We deepened our long-standing partnership with Broadcom through a strategic collaboration to develop pioneering agentic AI workflows to help design Broadcom's next-generation product. We also expanded our footprint at multiple marquee hyperscalers across our EDA, hardware, IP, and system software solutions.

我們透過策略合作深化了與博通的長期合作關係，共同開發開創性的智慧體人工智慧工作流程，以幫助設計博通的下一代產品。我們也擴大了在多家知名超大規模資料中心的業務範圍，涵蓋了 EDA、硬體、IP 和系統軟體解決方案。

And we are particularly excited by the emerging physical AI opportunity. And our broad-based portfolio uniquely positions us to enable autonomous driving and robotic companies to address multimodal silicon and system challenges.

我們尤其對新興的實體人工智慧機會感到興奮。我們廣泛的產品組合使我們能夠以獨特的優勢幫助自動駕駛和機器人公司應對多模態晶片和系統挑戰。

In addition, we are increasingly applying AI internally to improve efficiency across engineering, go-to-market, and operations. In 2025, we also furthered our partnerships with leading foundries. We expanded our collaboration with TSMC to power next-gen AI flows on TSMC's N2 and A16 technologies.

此外，我們正在越來越多地在內部應用人工智慧來提高工程、市場推廣和營運方面的效率。2025年，我們也進一步加強了與領先代工廠的合作關係。我們擴大了與台積電的合作，利用台積電的 N2 和 A16 技術為下一代 AI 流程提供支援。

We strengthened our engagement with Intel Foundry by officially joining the Intel Foundry Accelerator Design Services Alliance. Rapidus made a wide-ranging commitment to our core EDA software portfolio across digital, custom analog, and verification solutions. And Samsung Foundry expanded its collaboration with Cadence, leveraging our AI-driven design solutions and IP solutions.

我們透過正式加入英特爾晶圓代工加速器設計服務聯盟，加強了與英特爾晶圓代工的合作。Rapidus 對其核心 EDA 軟體產品組合做出了廣泛的承諾，涵蓋數位、客製化模擬和驗證解決方案。三星晶圓代工擴大了與 Cadence 的合作，利用了我們人工智慧驅動的設計解決方案和 IP 解決方案。

Now turning to product highlights for Q4 and 2025, accelerating compute demand driven by the AI infrastructure build-out and demanding next-generation data center requirements, continue to create significant opportunities for our core EDA portfolio. Our core EDA business delivered strong performance with revenue growing 13% in 2025.

現在來看看第四季和 2025 年的產品亮點，人工智慧基礎設施建設和下一代資料中心的高要求推動了運算需求的加速成長，這繼續為我們的核心 EDA 產品組合創造了巨大的機會。我們的核心EDA業務表現強勁，預計2025年營收成長13%。

Our recurring software business reaccelerated to double-digit growth in Q4, a testament to the strength and durability of our model. Our hardware business delivered another record year with over 30 new customers and substantially higher repeat demand from AI and hyperscalers. 7 out of the top 10 customers in 2025 were Dynamic Duo customers, underscoring the differentiated value provided by our hardware systems.

我們的經常性軟體業務在第四季度重新加速成長，實現了兩位數的成長，證明了我們模式的實力和持久性。我們的硬體業務再創佳績，新增客戶超過30家，人工智慧和超大規模資料中心的重複購買需求也大幅成長。 2025年排名前十的客戶中有七家是Dynamic Duo的客戶，這凸顯了我們硬體系統所提供的差異化價值。

With a strong backlog entering 2026, we expect this year to be yet another record year for hardware. Our digital portfolio delivered a strong year, driven by continued proliferation of our full flow solutions as we added 25 new digital full flow logos in 2025. We expanded our footprint at a top hyperscaler, growing our AI-driven synthesis and implementation solutions, including our 3D-IC platforms.

由於 2026 年的訂單積壓情況良好，我們預計今年將是硬體銷售另一個創紀錄的年份。在 2025 年，我們的數位產品組合取得了強勁的業績，這得益於我們全流程解決方案的持續普及，我們新增了 25 個全流程數位識別。我們在一家頂級超大規模資料中心擴大了業務範圍，發展了我們的人工智慧驅動的合成和實現解決方案，包括我們的 3D-IC 平台。

A marquee hyperscaler embraced the Cadence digital full flow for its first full customer-owned tooling AI chip tape-out. Broad proliferation of Cadence Cerebrus continues, and adoption of our Cadence Cerebrus AI studio is accelerating. Recently, Samsung US used it to tape out a SF2 design, achieving 4x productivity improvement.

一家知名超大規模資料中心在其首個完全由客戶擁有的 AI 晶片流片中採用了 Cadence 的數位化全流程解決方案。Cadence Cerebrus 的廣泛普及仍在繼續，我們 Cadence Cerebrus AI 工作室的採用率正在加速成長。最近，三星美國公司利用該技術完成了SF2設計的流片，實現了4倍的生產效率提升。

In custom and analog, our Spectre circuit simulator saw significant growth at leading AI and memory companies. Our flagship Virtuoso Studio, the industry standard for custom and mixed signal design, saw continued traction in AI-driven design migration across its vast installed base. A top multinational electronics and EV customer reported a 30% layout efficiency gain using our AI-driven design migration.

在客製化和類比領域，我們的 Spectre 電路模擬器在領先的人工智慧和記憶體公司中取得了顯著成長。我們的旗艦產品 Virtuoso Studio 是客製化和混合訊號設計的行業標準，在其龐大的已安裝用戶群中，人工智慧驅動的設計遷移持續獲得關注。一家頂級跨國電子和電動車客戶表示，使用我們人工智慧驅動的設計遷移後，佈局效率提高了 30%。

Our IP business saw strong momentum, with revenue growing nearly 25% in 2025, reflecting both the strength of our expanding IP portfolio and the critical role our star IP solutions play in the AI, HPC, and automotive verticals. We achieved both significant expansions and meaningful competitive wins at marquee customers, demonstrating the superior performance and capabilities of our IP solutions across HBM, UCIe, PCIe, DDR, and SerDes titles.

我們的智慧財產權業務發展勢頭強勁，2025 年營收成長近 25%，這不僅反映了我們不斷擴大的智慧財產權組合的實力，也反映了我們明星智慧財產權解決方案在人工智慧、高效能運算和汽車垂直領域發揮的關鍵作用。我們在重要客戶中實現了顯著的業務擴張和意義重大的競爭勝利，證明了我們的 IP 解決方案在 HBM、UCIe、PCIe、DDR 和 SerDes 等領域的卓越性能和強大功能。

We are seeing particularly strong adoption of our industry-leading memory IP solutions, including our groundbreaking LPDDR6 memory IP, which is enabling customers to achieve the memory performance and efficiency required for next-generation AI workloads. In Q4, we launched our Tensilica HiFi IQ DSP, offering up to 8x higher AI performance and more than 25% energy savings for automotive infotainment, smartphone, and home entertainment markets.

我們看到業界領先的記憶體 IP 解決方案得到了特別強勁的採用，包括我們突破性的 LPDDR6 記憶體 IP，這使得客戶能夠實現下一代 AI 工作負載所需的記憶體效能和效率。第四季度，我們推出了 Tensilica HiFi IQ DSP，為汽車資訊娛樂、智慧型手機和家庭娛樂市場提供高達 8 倍的 AI 性能提升和超過 25% 的節能效果。

Our system design and analysis business delivered 13% revenue growth in 2025. Earlier in the year, we introduced the new Millennium M2000 AI supercomputer, featuring NVIDIA Blackwell, which is ramping nicely and with growing customer interest across multiple end markets. Our 3D-IC platform has become a key enabler for the industry's transition to multichip architectures, which are increasingly critical for next-generation AI infrastructure, HPC, and advanced mobile applications.

我們的系統設計和分析業務在 2025 年實現了 13% 的收入成長。今年早些時候，我們推出了採用 NVIDIA Blackwell 的全新 Millennium M2000 AI 超級計算機，該產品發展勢頭良好，並在多個終端市場引起了越來越多的客戶興趣。我們的 3D-IC 平台已成為推動產業向多晶片架構轉型的重要力量，而多晶片架構對於下一代人工智慧基礎設施、高效能運算和高階行動應用而言正變得越來越重要。

Adoption of our AI-driven Allegro X platform is accelerating. Earlier in Q3, Infineon standardized on Allegro X. And in Q4, STMicroelectronics decided to adopt our Allegro X solution to design printed circuit boards. Our Reality data center digital twin solution continued its strong momentum and was deployed at several leading hyperscalers and marquee AI companies.

我們基於人工智慧的Allegro X平台正在加速普及。第三季初，英飛凌將Allegro X作為標準配備。第四季度，意法半導體也決定採用我們的Allegro X解決方案來設計印刷電路板。我們的 Reality 資料中心數位孿生解決方案持續保持強勁勢頭，並已部署到多家領先的超大規模資料中心和知名人工智慧公司。

Beta CAE continues to unlock tremendous opportunities, particularly in the automotive segment. With our previously announced acquisition of Hexagon's D&E business, we'll be poised to accelerate our strategy around physical AI, including in autonomous vehicles and robotics.

Beta CAE持續釋放巨大的機遇，尤其是在汽車領域。隨著我們先前宣布收購 Hexagon 的 D&E 業務，我們將能夠加速推進我們在實體人工智慧領域的策略，包括自動駕駛汽車和機器人技術。

In closing, I'm pleased with our strong performance in 2025, and I'm excited about the strong momentum across our business. As the AI era continues to accelerate, our AI-driven EDA, SDA, and IP portfolio, powered by new AI agents and accelerated computing, positions Cadence extremely well to capture these massive opportunities.

最後，我對我們在 2025 年的強勁表現感到滿意，並對我們業務的強勁發展勢頭感到興奮。隨著人工智慧時代的不斷加速，我們以人工智慧驅動的EDA、SDA和IP產品組合，在新型人工智慧代理和加速運算的支援下，使Cadence能夠以極其有利的地位抓住這些巨大的機會。

Now I will turn it over to John to provide more details on the Q4 results and our 2026 outlook.

現在我將把發言權交給約翰，讓他詳細介紹第四季業績和我們對 2026 年的展望。

Thanks, Anirudh, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to report that Cadence delivered an excellent finish to 2025, with broad-based momentum across all our businesses. Robust design activity and strong customer demand drove 14% revenue growth and 20% EPS growth for the year.

謝謝阿尼魯德，大家午安。我很高興地報告，Cadence 在 2025 年取得了優異的成績，所有業務都取得了廣泛的成長勢頭。強勁的設計活動和旺盛的客戶需求推動公司全年營收成長 14%，每股收益成長 20%。

Productivity improvement across the company helped us achieve an operating margin of 44.6% for the year. Fourth-quarter bookings were exceptionally strong, and we began 2026 with a record backlog of $7.8 billion. Here are some of the financial highlights from the fourth quarter and the year, starting with the P&L.

公司整體生產力的提高幫助我們實現了全年 44.6% 的營業利潤率。第四季訂單量異常強勁，2026 年伊始，我們的積壓訂單金額就達到了創紀錄的 78 億美元。以下是第四季和全年的一些財務亮點，首先是損益表。

Total revenue was $1.440 billion for the quarter and $5.297 billion for the year. GAAP operating margin was 32.2% for the quarter and 28.2% for the year. Non-GAAP operating margin was 45.8% for the quarter and 44.6% for the year. GAAP EPS was $1.42 for the quarter and $4.06 for the year. Non-GAAP EPS was $1.99 for the quarter and $7.14 for the year.

本季總營收為 14.4 億美元，全年總營收為 52.97 億美元。本季GAAP營業利益率為32.2%，全年GAAP營業利益率為28.2%。本季非GAAP營業利益率為45.8%，全年為44.6%。本季GAAP每股收益為1.42美元，全年GAAP每股收益為4.06美元。本季非GAAP每股收益為1.99美元，全年為7.14美元。

Next, turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. Our cash balance was $3.001 billion at year-end, while the principal value of debt outstanding was $2.5 billion. Operating cash flow was $553 million in the fourth quarter and $1.729 billion for the full year. DSOs were 64 days, and we used $925 million to repurchase Cadence shares during the year.

接下來，我們來看資產負債表和現金流量表。截至年末，我們的現金餘額為 30.01 億美元，而未償債務本金為 25 億美元。第四季經營現金流為 5.53 億美元，全年經營現金流為 17.29 億美元。DSO 為 64 天，我們在這一年中使用了 9.25 億美元回購了 Cadence 的股票。

Before I provide our outlook for 2026, I'd like to share that it contains our usual assumption that export control regulations that exist today remain substantially similar for the remainder of the year. And our current 2026 outlook does not include our pending acquisition of Hexagon's design and engineering business.

在展望 2026 年之前，我想先說明，我們的展望包含了我們一貫的假設，即現行的出口管制條例在今年剩餘的時間裡將基本保持不變。我們目前的 2026 年展望不包括我們正在進行的對 Hexagon 設計和工程業務的收購。

For our outlook for 2026, we expect revenue in the range of $5.9 billion to $6 billion; GAAP operating margin in the range of 31.75% to 32.75%; non-GAAP operating margin in the range of 44.75% to 45.75%; GAAP EPS in the range of $4.95 to $5.05; non-GAAP EPS in the range of $8.05 to $8.15; operating cash flow of approximately $2 billion; and we expect to use approximately 50% of our free cash flow to repurchase Cadence shares in 2026.

展望 2026 年，我們預計收入將在 59 億美元至 60 億美元之間；GAAP 營業利潤率將在 31.75% 至 32.75% 之間；非 GAAP 營業利潤率將在 44.75% 至 45.75% 之間；GAAP 每股收益將在 44.75% 至 45.75% 之間；GAAP 每股收益將在 4.95 美元之間在 5.95 美元之間在 5.5 美元之間； 8.15 美元之間；經營現金流約 20 億美元；我們預計在 2026 年使用約 50% 的自由現金流回購 Cadence 的股票。

For Q1, we expect revenue in the range of $1.420 billion to $1.460 billion; GAAP operating margin in the range of 30% to 31%; non-GAAP operating margin in the range of 44% to 45%; GAAP EPS in the range of $1.16 to $1.22; and non-GAAP EPS in the range of $1.89 to $1.95. And as usual, we've published a CFO commentary document on our Investor Relations website, which includes our outlook for additional items as well as further analysis and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations.

我們預計第一季營收將在14.2億美元至14.6億美元之間；GAAP營業利潤率將在30%至31%之間；非GAAP營業利潤率將在44%至45%之間；GAAP每股收益將在1.16美元至1.22美元之間；非GAAP每股收益將介於1.95美元之間。此外，我們已按慣例在投資者關係網站上發布了財務長評論文件，其中包含我們對其他項目的展望、進一步的分析以及GAAP與非GAAP的調整說明。

In conclusion, I am pleased that we delivered strong top line and earnings growth for 2025. And we finished the year with a record backlog and ongoing business momentum, setting ourselves up for a great 2026. As always, I'd like to thank our customers, partners, and our employees for their continued support.

總而言之，我很高興我們實現了2025年強勁的營收和獲利成長。我們以創紀錄的訂單積壓和持續的業務成長勢頭結束了這一年，為2026年取得巨大成功奠定了基礎。一如既往，我要感謝我們的客戶、合作夥伴和員工一直以來的支持。

And with that, operator, we will now take questions.

操作員，接下來我們將開始回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Vivek Arya, Bank of America Securities.

（操作員說明）Vivek Arya，美國銀行證券。

Thanks for taking my question. Now, Anirudh, I'm curious, have you seen any disruption or change of thinking whatsoever at your customers in terms of them using AI to reduce or eliminate demand for EDA or IP or any other computer-aided engineering tools? Is there a scenario at all that you have discussed, right, or your customers might contemplate where they can use more of their internal tools or AI to displace what you're doing right now? Thank you.

謝謝您回答我的問題。Anirudh，我很好奇，你的客戶在使用人工智慧來減少或消除對EDA、IP或任何其他電腦輔助工程工具的需求方面，是否出現了任何思維上的顛覆或改變？你們討論過哪些場景？或者你們的客戶是否考慮過，他們可以利用更多內部工具或人工智慧來取代你們目前正在做的事情？謝謝。

Yeah. Hi, Vivek. Thank you for the question. I know this is a topical question on top of mind for investors. But like I said before, I mean, for us, we always look at things as a three-layer cake. And there's different kinds of software. There's a lot of discussion in terms of will AI replace some form of software. But you know well, anyway, there are different kind of software.

是的。你好，維韋克。謝謝你的提問。我知道這是投資人最關心的熱門議題。但就像我之前說的，我的意思是，對我們來說，我們總是把事情看成一個三層蛋糕。軟體也有不同的種類。關於人工智慧是否會取代某些形式的軟體，目前有許多討論。但你也知道，軟體有很多種。

Our software is the engineering software, doing very, very complex physics-based mathematical operations. So any AI tools that we are developing or our customers are using, basically, in the end, call our software to get the job done properly. So what we are saying instead is that -- and you can see that in our results. We can see this in our discussion with customers. If there is -- as we move to these agentic flows, it uses more of our software to get the job done rather than the other way around.

我們的軟體是工程軟體，用於執行非常非常複雜的基於物理的數學運算。因此，我們開發或我們的客戶使用的任何人工智慧工具，最終都會呼叫我們的軟體來完成工作。所以我們想表達的是──你可以從我們的結果看出這一點。這一點在我們與客戶的交流中就能體現出來。如果存在這種情況——隨著我們轉向這些代理流程，它會更多地使用我們的軟體來完成工作，而不是反過來。

So as we -- even like our own super agent, which is ChipStack, it is doing a part of the flow, first of all, that was not automated. Even in regular AI, there is a lot of automation in coding. That's one of the big applications. But if you move that over to chip design, if you look at our flow, there is an equivalent of coding, which is RTL code, which describes the chip or the system. That part has been mostly manual. And then after that, our tools kick in to optimize the RTL to simulate, verify, the RTL.

所以，即使像我們自己的超級代理 ChipStack 一樣，它也在執行流程的一部分，首先，這部分流程是沒有自動化的。即使在常規人工智慧領域，編碼中也存在大量的自動化。這是它的主要應用之一。但是，如果把這個概念應用到晶片設計中，看看我們的流程，就會發現它相當於編碼，也就是 RTL 程式碼，它描述了晶片或系統。那部分主要都是人工操作的。然後，我們的工具就會啟動，對 RTL 進行最佳化，以模擬、驗證 RTL。

So what we are doing with our AI flow, the top layer, is we are adding extra tools that will automate the writing of RTL. But then still, it causes a lot of middle layer tools, a lot of the base tools to implement and verify that. And I've said before, like what we are seeing at our customers, they want to use more AI. And I think they will invest more in R&D. I think they will also hire more engineers.

因此，我們在 AI 流程（頂層）中所做的，是添加額外的工具來自動編寫 RTL 語言。但是，這仍然需要很多中間層工具和很多基礎工具來實現和驗證。我之前也說過，就像我們在客戶那裡看到的那樣，他們希望更多地使用人工智慧。我認為他們會加大研發投入。我認為他們還會招募更多工程師。

But as a percentage of spend, the more spend will go to automation and compute because the other thing which is unique to our end market is that the workload is exponential. If the chip goes from [$100 million] now to [$1 trillion] in a few years, they need to do a lot more work, and some of the work will be done by AI agent calling our base tool.

但從支出百分比來看，自動化和運算方面的支出會越來越多，因為我們終端市場的另一個獨特之處在於，工作負載呈指數級成長。如果晶片的價格從現在的 1 億美元漲到幾年後的 1 兆美元，他們需要做更多的工作，其中一些工作將由人工智慧代理呼叫我們的基礎工具來完成。

So overall, to answer your question, we have seen absolutely no discussion with customers of reducing the usage. On the contrary, all these AI tools are increasing the usage of our tools and of course, then the AI build-out also. As customers design more and more chips, that is also increasing the usage of our tools.

所以總的來說，回答您的問題，我們完全沒有看到與客戶討論過減少使用量的問題。相反，所有這些人工智慧工具都在增加我們工具的使用，當然，人工智慧的建置也在增加。隨著客戶設計的晶片越來越多，我們工具的使用量也不斷增加。

Joe Vruwink, Baird.

Joe Vruwink，Baird。

Great. Thanks. I maybe wanted to ask about how you're approaching the outlook for 2026. It looks like recurring revenue is set to accelerate, and that's normally well supported by backlog. Maybe can you talk about the key contributors to the recurring improvements?

偉大的。謝謝。我想問您對 2026 年的展望。看來經常性收入將加速成長，而這通常會得到積壓訂單的良好支撐。您能否談談促成這些持續改善的關鍵因素？

And then just on the 20% or so revs that come from upfront sources, you obviously had an incredible 2025 with your hardware platforms. And it sounds like you're expecting growth there again. I think we're in year two of that platform now.

光是來自前期資金的 20% 左右的收入，你們的硬體平台在 2025 年就取得了巨大的成功。聽起來你預計那裡會再次成長。我認為我們現在已經進入該平台運營的第二年了。

Can you kind of see a repeat of what you observed back in 2023? That was a very strong year two for the second-gen product. How maybe are you thinking about that product and just where it is in its life cycle?

你覺得2023年你觀察到的現象會重演嗎？第二代產品上市第二年表現非常強勁。您是如何看待這款產品以及它目前處於生命週期的哪個階段的？

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Joe. This is John. As usual, at this time of the year, our guidance will reflect what we believe to be a prudent and well-calibrated view of the year. We finished the year with very strong momentum on backlog, and we saw that strength right across the board across all lines of business.

是的。謝謝你的提問，喬。我是約翰。與往年一樣，在每年的這個時候，我們的指導將反映出我們認為對這一年審慎而周全的看法。今年年底，我們的積壓訂單成長勢頭非常強勁，而且這種強勁勢頭在所有業務線中都得到了體現。

And as Anirudh says, our view of the AI area is that it increases workload faster than headcount growth, and Cadence monetizes workload through broad portfolio proliferation across EDA, IP, hardware, and SDA. And we're seeing that flow through into all lines of business for us.

正如 Anirudh 所說，我們認為人工智慧領域的工作量成長速度超過了人員成長速度，而 Cadence 透過在 EDA、IP、硬體和 SDA 等領域的廣泛產品組合擴張來實現工作量貨幣化。我們看到這種趨勢正在滲透到我們所有的業務線。

Now typically, at this time of the year -- our hardware is a pipeline business -- we're expecting a very strong first half for hardware. But because we only typically see two quarters in the pipeline, we're quite prudent in the second half of the year in this current guide, but that's no different to what we normally do.

通常來說，每年的這個時候——我們的硬體業務屬於流水線業務——我們預計上半年硬體業務會非常強勁。但由於我們通常只看到兩個季度的計劃，因此在本指南中，我們對下半年的計劃相當謹慎，但這與我們通常的做法並無不同。

Same -- we typically try to derisk the guide for things like hardware and China at this time of the year. And if you look at how China has performed in the last two years, I think it was 12% of our revenue in 2024, 13% in 2025, and we expect it to be in that kind of range, 12% to 13% of our revenue, as well for this year.

同樣地——我們通常會在每年的這個時候盡量降低指南中硬體和中國相關內容的風險。如果你看看中國市場過去兩年的表現，我認為它在 2024 年占我們收入的 12%，2025 年佔 13%，我們預計今年也差不多會在這個範圍內，占我們收入的 12% 到 13%。

But, yeah, we're seeing absolutely huge strength across the board, delighted with the strength of the guide. And just a key transparency metric, you'll see in the CFO commentary that around 67% of 2026 revenue is coming from beginning backlog. And that gives us strong visibility into the multiyear recurring base. So we're very, very happy to see that recurring base get back to kind of double digits, kind of low-teen growth.

是的，我們看到各方面都表現得非常強勁，對這份指南的強勁表現感到非常滿意。還有一個關鍵的透明度指標，您會在財務長的評論中看到，2026 年約 67% 的收入來自期初積壓訂單。這使我們能夠清楚地了解多年的經常性收入基礎。所以，我們非常非常高興地看到經常性基數恢復到兩位數，也就是十幾個百分點的成長。

Joe Quatrochi, Wells Fargo.

喬·夸特羅奇，富國銀行。

Yeah, thanks for taking the question. Just kind of curious, maybe following up on that. On the verification and emulation hardware cycle, any sort of help on just kind of where you think you are at in that cycle? And then is there anything we should think about just in terms of memory availability from that perspective or just anything about margins given pretty significant price increases we've seen across the DRAM spectrum?

好的，謝謝你回答這個問題。只是有點好奇，或許可以跟進一下。在驗證和仿真硬體週期中，您能否就您認為目前所處的階段提供一些幫助？那麼，從記憶體可用性的角度來看，或者考慮到DRAM價格大幅上漲，利潤率方面，我們是否應該考慮一些問題？

Yeah, good question. So hardware, like you know, is in a multi -- every year is a record for hardware. And I expect that trend to continue. And the reason being, of course, these hardware systems become indispensable to the design of complex chips and systems. Actually, no complex AI chip or any other mobile or automotive chips.

嗯，問得好。所以硬體方面，你知道，每年的硬體產品都在創紀錄——每年都是硬體產品的新紀錄。我預計這種趨勢還會持續下去。當然，原因在於這些硬體系統對於複雜晶片和系統的設計是必不可少的。實際上，沒有複雜的AI晶片，也沒有任何其他移動或汽車晶片。

Any complex chips are not designed without hardware systems, and we have the best hardware system on the market because we design -- just to remind you -- we design our own chips made by TSMC and we sell full racks. These things have trillions of transistors to emulate other chips. So even though it is reported upfront, as you know, because the customers will buy and use the systems for multiple years, the big customers are buying them almost every year.

任何複雜的晶片都離不開硬體系統，而我們擁有市場上最好的硬體系統，因為我們自己設計晶片——再次提醒您——我們設計由台積電製造的晶片，並且我們銷售整架的晶片。這些設備擁有數萬億個電晶體來模擬其他晶片。所以，儘管如前所述，由於客戶會購買並使用這些系統多年，大客戶幾乎每年都會購買，因此，由於客戶會購買和使用這些系統，大客戶幾乎每年都會購買。

And I don't see that trend changing. And like even I indicated like when we launched Z3, even Z2 was a very good system. So the fact that the system is second year now, I think there's still -- it has capacity to design systems of 1 trillion transistors, okay, which should last for several years to go. And in a few years, anyway, we'll launch our next system. So we're always ahead of what the market will need.

而且我認為這種趨勢不會改變。就像我之前在發布 Z3 時提到的那樣，Z2 也是一個非常優秀的系統。所以，儘管該系統現在已經是第二年了，我認為它仍然有能力設計出包含 1 兆個電晶體的系統，這應該可以持續使用好幾年。無論如何，幾年後，我們將推出下一代系統。因此，我們始終走在市場需求的前端。

But in terms of demand, we don't see any difference versus -- if you ask me this year versus last year, the demand is only stronger, and you can see that in the backlog. And then how much this will grow, we will see. Like John said, beginning of the year, we are a little careful with hardware. But we'll update you middle of the year depending on how things are going.

但就需求而言，我們沒有看到任何差異——如果你問我今年和去年相比，需求只會更強，你可以從積壓訂單中看出這一點。至於它會發展到什麼程度，我們拭目以待。正如約翰所說，年初的時候，我們在硬體方面比較謹慎。但我們會根據情況發展，並在年中向您報告最新進展。

But hardware system is performing well. We are taking share. And actually, what I feel is we are taking share in all our major product segments. So we are taking share in hardware. We are taking share in IP, which is really good to see now.

但硬體系統運作良好。我們正在搶佔市場份額。實際上，我的感覺是，我們在所有主要產品領域都獲得了市場份額。所以我們正在硬體領域佔據市場份額。我們正在獲得知識產權份額，這在目前來說確實是一件好事。

This will be almost third year of strong IP growth. That's right. We don't -- one year doesn't make a trend for us. So -- but after three years, I can see that I feel good about our IP business. Hardware has been strong for a while.

這將是IP業務強勁成長的近三年。這是正確的。我們不這麼認為──一年的情況對我們來說並不能構成趨勢。所以——但三年後，我對我們的智慧財產權業務感到滿意。硬體市場已經強勁發展了一段時間。

EDA, our core business, is doing phenomenal, okay. 3D-IC, we are taking share. Agentic AI, we are first to market. We already have a lot of customers using our agentic flow. So not only I feel good about the hardware business and where it is, I feel really good on our overall portfolio and how we are performing.

EDA，我們的核心業務，表現非常出色。3D-IC，我們正在搶佔市場份額。在智能體人工智慧領域，我們率先進入市場。我們已經有很多客戶在使用我們的代理商流程。因此，我不僅對硬體業務及其發展現狀感到滿意，而且對我們的整體產品組合和業績也感到非常滿意。

Jim Schneider, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆‧施耐德，高盛集團。

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could talk about -- a little bit more about your -- excuse me -- your AI workflows. And if it's possible to quantify any of the benefits that your customers are getting from those workflows today, whether that be time to market, enhanced productivity per seat, or so on? And maybe separately kind of address how you're able to monetize that, and then how broad that is across your portfolio today? Thank you.

午安.謝謝您回答我的問題。我想請您再詳細談談您的——抱歉——您的人工智慧工作流程。如果能夠量化您的客戶目前從這些工作流程中獲得的任何好處，例如上市時間、每個席位的生產力提高等等，那就更好了。或許還可以單獨談談你是如何獲利的，以及目前這種獲利模式在你投資組合中的覆蓋範圍有多廣？謝謝。

Yes, Jim, I mean, first of all, the results are quite remarkable with AI. And like a few years ago, there was some skepticism of how much AI can benefit. But now, I mean, that's just true in other areas, too. But definitely, in chip design, the results are fantastic and real.

是的，吉姆，我的意思是，首先，人工智慧的成果相當顯著。和幾年前一樣，人們對人工智慧能帶來多大益處持懷疑態度。但現在，我的意思是，這種情況在其他領域也同樣適用。但可以肯定的是，在晶片設計領域，結果非常出色且真實。

And I think there is a difference, I believe, in chip design versus other industries. Because one of the issues with AI flows is that you really don't know whether the AI result is correct or not. This has been one issue even in vibe coding or software. Like, okay, generate some code, but you spend a lot of time verifying that it is correct or not.

我認為晶片設計與其他產業有差異。因為人工智慧流程的一個問題是，你真的不知道人工智慧的結果是否正確。即使在 Vibe 編碼或軟體開發中，這也是一個問題。例如，好吧，產生一些程式碼，但你要花很多時間去驗證它是否正確。

And in some other industries, there is no like formal languages to design things. But in chip design, first of all, we have formal languages to design things, which is RTL. Plus over the last 20, 30 years, we have built all these products whose job is to make sure that the RTL is correct, okay, so all our middle-layer tools, verification, simulation, optimization. So therefore, AI can be a force multiplier and accelerant to chip design versus other areas, okay?

而在其他一些行業，也沒有類似正式語言的方法來設計產品。但在晶片設計中，首先我們有形式化語言來設計事物，也就是 RTL。此外，在過去的 20、30 年裡，我們開發了所有這些產品，它們的作用是確保 RTL 正確，好的，所以我們所有的中間層工具，驗證、模擬、最佳化。所以，人工智慧可以成為晶片設計領域相對於其他領域的倍增器和加速器，懂嗎？

And so the way -- and the results -- just to highlight, like we talked about Samsung getting 4x productivity -- this is code from the customer -- or Altera talking about 7 to 10x productivity improvement. Now they're on parts of the flow for like RTL writing, which has been kind of manual. There can be massive improvement in productivity.

因此，方法和結果——例如，我們談到三星的生產力提高了 4 倍——這是來自客戶的程式碼——或者 Altera 談到生產力提高了 7 到 10 倍。現在他們正在研究 RTL 寫作等流程中的一些環節，這之前一直都是手動操作的。生產力可以大幅提高。

And in the back end, for example, physical design, there could be 7%, 10% PPA improvement, 12%, in that range. So just that you know that when you go from one node to another node like 5 to 3 or 3-nanometer, 2-nanometer, the gain could be like 10%, 20%. So you're getting half the gain or almost the same gain as a node migration through better optimization with AI, okay?

例如，在後端，例如實體設計方面，PPA 可能會有 7%、10%、12% 的改進。所以你要知道，當從一個節點到另一個節點，例如從 5 奈米到 3 奈米，或從 3 奈米到 2 奈米時，增益可能達到 10%、20%。所以，透過人工智慧進行更好的優化，你可以獲得節點遷移一半或幾乎相同的收益，懂嗎？

So I think the results are real. We have demand from almost all customers now to engage rapidly because they want to deploy AI in their R&D function. And you have to remember the way our customers deploy R&D in the -- apply AI in their R&D function is through Cadence and Cadence tools, right? So they are all very anxious to try all these things. We have all these engagements with all the top customers.

所以我認為結果是真的。現在幾乎所有客戶都要求我們盡快合作，因為他們希望在研發職能中部署人工智慧。你必須記住，我們的客戶在研發中應用人工智慧的方式是透過 Cadence 和 Cadence 工具，對吧？所以他們都非常渴望嘗試所有這些事情。我們與所有頂級客戶都有這些合作關係。

And our monetization -- and I always said in the past that it takes some time for monetization to happen. It takes two contract cycles, and I think we are well into that now. So I think we are seeing the monetization now, which is reflected in our results, is reflected in our record backlog.

至於我們的獲利模式——我過去一直說，獲利需要一些時間才能實現。這需要兩個合約週期，我認為我們現在已經進入了其中的很大一部分。所以我認為我們現在正在看到獲利的跡象，這體現在我們的業績上，也體現在我們創紀錄的積壓訂單上。

And agentic AI can give further monetization. So the way we go to market with agentic AI will be different because this is a new tool category of something that EDA never automated. Writing of RTL or test benches was manual, right? So we will price it as like a virtual engineer or agent. So that would be extra business.

而智能體人工智慧可以帶來進一步的商業價值。因此，我們向市場推廣智慧AI的方式將會有所不同，因為這是一個全新的工具類別，是EDA從未實現自動化的。RTL 程式碼或測試平台的編寫都是手動完成的，對吧？因此，我們將按照虛擬工程師或代理商的定價方式來定價。那將帶來額外的業務。

And our customers are willing to spend on that because it is productivity improvement for them. And then on top of that, just like before, it will call the base tools. And they become a lot more licenses, or usage will happen our base tools.

我們的客戶願意為此付費，因為這能提高他們的生產力。此外，就像以前一樣，它也會呼叫基礎工具。而且它們會獲得更多許可證，或使用我們的基礎工具。

And the reason for that is like in the non-AI for -- this is a misnomer that we are like seat count limited. We are exploration limited. Even if a user, like a manual user is running our tool, they will run like three or four or five experiments in parallel to see what is the best PPA. But with the agentic AI flow, it could run 10 or 100 experiments in parallel.

原因就像在非人工智慧領域一樣——這是一種誤稱，我們就像座位數量有限一樣。我們的探索能力有限。即使是像手動用戶這樣的用戶運行我們的工具，他們也會同時運行三到四個或五個實驗，以找出最佳的 PPA。但藉助智慧AI流程，它可以並行運行10或100個實驗。

So our plan for monetization, which is working well, we'll add the agentic AI part. We will charge for the agentic flows from a virtual engineer, things like RTL writing and then, of course, for the licenses in the base layer and see how that goes. But from a customer standpoint, I mean, there's a lot of demand to try all these new tools.

因此，我們目前的獲利計劃進展順利，我們將加入智慧AI部分。我們將對虛擬工程師的代理流程（例如 RTL 編寫）以及基礎層的許可證收費，看看效果如何。但從客戶的角度來看，我的意思是，他們非常渴望嘗試所有這些新工具。

Gary Mobley, Loop Capital.

Gary Mobley，Loop Capital。

Hi, guys. Let me extend my congratulations on the strong finish of the year. John, I believe there's been an effort to move your SD&A customers into one of your license terms. And if we're not mistaken, that's been an impediment to growth. So the question is, is that the reason why SD&A revenue grew only 13% in 2025?

嗨，大家好。讓我對你們今年取得的優異成績表示祝賀。約翰，我相信有人試圖將你的 SD&A 客戶轉移到你的某個授權條款。如果我們沒弄錯的話，這已經成為成長的阻礙。所以問題是，這是否是 SD&A 收入在 2025 年僅成長 13% 的原因？

And what's the consideration for 2026? And then what's the consideration for Hexagon when you roll that business in? I believe they were at a $240 million revenue run rate. Does that see a more limited -- is that number limited because of this one-year license term transition?

那麼，2026 年需要考慮哪些因素呢？那麼，當把這項業務納入其中時，Hexagon 需要考慮哪些因素呢？我相信他們的年化收入為 2.4 億美元。這是否意味著數量會受到限制——這個數量限制是否是因為這一年的許可期限過渡期造成的？

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Gary. And you're right in terms of SG&A, we lapped some tough comps in SG&A in Q4 2025, partly due to the multiyear business. So we did some multiyear business in Q4 2024 through our Beta subsidiary. And we have deliberately been moving to more annual subscription arrangements for Beta in 2025, and that impacts the year-over-year numbers.

是的。謝謝你的提問，加里。你說的沒錯，就銷售、一般及行政費用而言，我們在 2025 年第四季度的銷售、一般及行政費用方面超越了一些高基數，部分原因是由於多年期業務。因此，我們在 2024 年第四季透過我們的 Beta 子公司開展了一些多年期業務。我們有意將 Beta 版的年度訂閱安排從 2025 年開始逐步過渡，這將影響到年比數據。

And seeing all that, we're very pleased with SG&A's strategic trajectory and its role in the chip to systems thesis. From a mix standpoint, SG&A was like 16% of revenue in '25, consistent with '24 when you look at the year, and we expect it to grow. We expect all product groups to grow, but we're not guiding by segment.

有鑑於此，我們對 SG&A 的戰略軌跡及其在晶片到系統理論中的作用感到非常滿意。從組成角度來看，2025 年的銷售、一般及行政費用佔收入的 16% 左右，與 2024 年的情況一致，我們預期這一比例還會成長。我們預計所有產品組都會成長，但我們不會按細分市場進行預測。

In relation to Hexagon, I think the annualized -- I think we said this before at some fireside charts -- that the annualized revenue for Hexagon is about $200 million on a year basis. Now what that means, of course, is that it's kind of like Beta where Beta did a lot of January 1 deals.

關於 Hexagon，我認為其年化收入——我想我們之前在一些爐邊談話圖表中說過——Hexagon 的年化收入約為 2 億美元。當然，這意味著它有點像 Beta，Beta 在 1 月 1 日做了很多促銷活動。

But like if that deal closed by the end of Q1, you're probably looking at $150 million revenue for the year. But we're not guiding -- we don't have final numbers for anything like that now. But -- so we haven't got anything to do with Hexagon in this guide.

但如果這筆交易在第一季末完成，那麼今年的營收可能達到 1.5 億美元。但我們目前不做任何指導——我們還沒有這類事情的最終數據。但是——所以本指南與 Hexagon 沒有任何關係。

Charles Shi, Needham.

石正麗，李約瑟。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Anirudh, I thought the best highlight of the quarter was the announcement around the marquee hyperscaler customer adopting Cadence digital full flow. I think you characterized it as for the first COT chip that they're going to tape out.

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。Anirudh，我認為本季最大的亮點是宣布知名超大規模客戶採用 Cadence 數位全流程。我認為你把它描述為他們即將流片的第一款 COT 晶片。

So it sounds like we should expect that particular hyperscaler having a COT chip coming out in two or three years down the road. And just kind of want to ask a question like how many hyperscaler customers right now are doing COT? And even for that particular customer, having the first chip on COT, I wonder what's your -- what do you think the ramp is going to be?

所以聽起來我們應該期待這家超大規模資料中心營運商在兩三年內推出 COT 晶片。我只是想問一下，目前有多少超大規模資料中心客戶正在使用 COT？即使對於那位擁有 COT 首枚晶片的特定客戶來說，我想知道——你認為成長曲線會是什麼樣的？

Like how will they proliferate COT for the other chips they are developing? Because every hyperscaler these days have more than one chip. That's my understanding. And I just want to get some sense from you where you are in terms of that whole COT proliferation. And I believe this is one of the great stories about the Cadence, about EDA in general, but I want to get your sense. Thank you.

他們將如何把 COT 技術推廣到他們正在開發的其​​他晶片上？因為如今每個超大規模資料中心都擁有不只一個晶片。我的理解就是這樣。我只是想了解一下您對 COT 擴散的看法。我相信這是關於 Cadence 以及整個 EDA 領域最偉大的故事之一，但我想聽聽你的看法。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Charles. I mean, without getting into like specifics of a particular customer, but I have said for some time now, because we work with our customers confidentially. We share our roadmap with them; they share roadmap with us. And we are in a unique position to work with all the leading companies across the globe, right?

是的。謝謝你的提問，查爾斯。我的意思是，我不想透露具體客戶的具體情況，但我已經說過一段時間了，因為我們與客戶的合作都是保密的。我們與他們分享我們的路線圖；他們也與我們分享路線圖。我們擁有得天獨厚的優勢，可以與全球所有領導企業合作，對吧？

And so I've said for a while that this trend of -- first of all, the trend that the customers, especially these big hyperscalers, will do their own chips is even more firm now than one or two years ago. And it's evident now with some of the big hyperscalers, the success they're having with their own chips, right, especially in the last six months that has become evident.

因此，我之前就說過，這種趨勢——首先，客戶，尤其是這些大型超大規模資料中心，將自行製造晶片的趨勢，現在比一兩年前更加堅定。現在一些大型超大規模資料中心營運商憑藉其自主研發的晶片取得了成功，這一點已經很明顯了，尤其是在過去六個月裡，這一點變得更加明顯。

Because it was not clear. Like one or two years ago, people thought people will not design their own chips. It doesn't mean that the merchant semi will not do well. A merchant semi will do fabulous, but the big customers will design their own chips, okay?

因為這一點不清楚。就像一兩年前一樣，人們認為人們不會設計自己的晶片。但這並不代表這家商用半拖車公司不會經營好。商用半自動晶片會表現出色，但大客戶會設計自己的晶片，懂嗎？

And then this is also true that, over time, the big customers will do more and more things in-house, starting with ASIC to a hybrid COT to COT. Because these chips are -- I mean, this is more -- there's another step these days versus the old days, which is hybrid COT because these chips have multiple chiplets in them. So the customers can do some of the chiplets themselves; some can be outsourced. And then they can do all of them themselves.

而且隨著時間的推移，大客戶也會越來越多地在內部完成各種事情，從 ASIC 到混合 COT 再到 COT。因為這些晶片——我的意思是，這更加——如今與過去相比又多了一步，那就是混合 COT，因為這些晶片中有多個晶片組。因此，客戶可以自己完成一些晶片模組；有些可以外包。然後他們就可以自己完成所有這些工作了。

So I think this trend is going to happen. And the reason we talk about it, it is happening. And different customers will do it at a different pace. But eventually, I think there will be multiple customers with their own chips. There will be multiple, of course, very significant semi-standard, general-purpose chips. And almost all of them will, over time, do more and more COT.

所以我認為這種趨勢將會發生。我們之所以談論這件事，是因為它正在發生。不同的顧客會以不同的速度完成。但最終，我認為會有多家客戶擁有自己的晶片。當然，會有許多非常重要的半標準通用晶片。隨著時間的推移，幾乎所有人都會越來越多地進行 COT。

And like you said, they do multiple chips now, at least three major platforms for each hyperscaler. So all this is good for us, good for more EDA consumption at the system companies, more IP being used internally, of course, more hardware, more system tools because they are in nature -- system companies in nature.

正如你所說，他們現在生產多種晶片，每個超大規模資料中心至少有三個主要平台。所以這一切對我們來說都是好事，有利於系統公司更多地使用EDA，當然也有利於內部更多地使用IP，更多的硬件，更多的系統工具，因為它們本質上就是系統公司。

So we just want to make sure we are well positioned for that. But the trend is only accelerating of these big companies doing more themselves. And then as you know, this will also then apply to other verticals like automotive and robotics and things like that.

所以，我們只是想確保我們為此做好充分準備。但這些大公司越來越多地自行承擔更多責任的趨勢只會加速發展。如你所知，這同樣適用於汽車、機器人等其他垂直領域。

Siti Panigrahi, Mizuho.

Siti Panigrahi，瑞穗銀行。

Yeah, thanks for taking my question. You talked about robust design activity. Can you give us some color in any kind of improvement on your traditional semi segment versus AI or automobile? If you could give some color, that would be helpful.

謝謝你回答我的問題。你談到了穩健的設計活動。您能否詳細介紹貴公司在傳統拖車領域相對於人工智慧或汽車領域有哪些改進？如果能提供一些細節訊息，那就太好了。

And, Anirudh, on the physical AI side, that was a big focus at CDS recently. Have you started seeing any traction in that space? When do you think that will be a significant contributor?

Anirudh，在實體人工智慧方面，這是 CDS 最近的一個重點。你在這個領域看到任何進展了嗎？你認為它何時會發揮重要作用？

Yes, thanks for the question, Siti. On both -- I mean, the design activity is accelerating, like I was saying, and that's true for system companies and semi companies. And actually, I mean, a lot of the projections are that we might hit the industry -- semi might hit $1 trillion this year, which is like it used to be 2030, and we are like four years ahead of that. So this is a very good news for the industry.

是的，謝謝你的提問，Siti。就這兩方面而言——我的意思是，設計活動正在加速，就像我剛才說的那樣，系統公司和半導體公司都是如此。實際上，我的意思是，許多預測都表明，半導體產業今年可能會達到 1 兆美元，這相當於以前的 2030 年，而我們現在比那時提前了四年。所以這對業界來說是個非常好的消息。

And of course, we have deep partnerships with all the major semi players and definitely the AI leaders like with NVIDIA and with Broadcom. Actually, in these prepared remarks also, we highlighted our new collaboration with Broadcom, which are, of course, doing phenomenally well and so is NVIDIA. And then of course, all the memory companies are doing phenomenally well.

當然，我們與所有主要的半導體廠商都有著深入的合作關係，也與像英偉達和博通這樣的人工智慧領導者建立了合作關係。事實上，在這些準備好的演講稿中，我們也重點介紹了我們與博通公司的新合作，博通公司當然發展得非常出色，英偉達公司也是如此。當然，所有記憶體公司都發展得非常出色。

So overall, I think the semi companies along the system companies are doing great. And I do see -- especially in AI and memory, but we do see the general market -- I'm sure you follow that, the mixed-signal companies, the regular -- let's call it, the regular semi companies, are also, I think, have a better outlook for '26 than '25.

所以總的來說，我認為半導體公司和系統公司都做得很好。而且我確實看到——尤其是在人工智慧和記憶體領域，但我們也看到整個市場——我相信你也注意到了，混合訊號公司，常規的——我們姑且稱之為常規半導體公司，我認為，它們在 2026 年的前景也比 2025 年要好。

So it's good to see a broad-based strength in the semi business, which is about 55% of our business. And that just creates a better environment for us to deploy our new solutions. And they all want to deploy AI like we discussed earlier, and that's true for both semi and system companies. So overall, I feel that the environment is much more healthier starting '26 than it was like a year ago.

因此，很高興看到半導體業務基礎雄厚，該業務約占我們業務的 55%。這樣就為我們部署新解決方案創造了更好的環境。他們都想部署我們之前討論過的人工智慧，半導體公司和系統公司都是如此。總的來說，我覺得從 2026 年開始，環境比一年前健康得多。

Lee Simpson, Morgan Stanley.

李‧辛普森，摩根士丹利。

Great, thanks for squeezing me in here. I just wanted to go back to ChipStack, if I could. I mean, it seems relatively clear that you see the super agent as something that can transform from Verilog to RTL or the coding thereof at least. And then it would pull in basically our tools for debug and optimization. So you get a more deterministic outcome for customers.

太好了，謝謝你們擠出時間來。如果可以的話，我只想回到 ChipStack。我的意思是，你似乎很清楚地認為超級代理可以從 Verilog 轉換為 RTL，或至少可以進行相應的編碼。然後它會呼叫我們的調試和最佳化工具。這樣一來，客戶就能獲得更確定的結果。

But you teased us a little bit with the idea about where the further monetization would come. It didn't sound like it would be on a subscription basis. It would be on a sort of value to customer basis. So I wonder if you could maybe just expand a little on that, and how that would be monetized? And maybe in particular, whether or not this would be margin accretive. You're at 45% now already. So could this help kick that on? Thanks.

但你之前透露了一些關於未來獲利模式的信息，讓我們有點摸不著頭腦。聽起來不像是訂閱制的。這將以客戶價值為基礎。所以我想知道您能否再詳細解釋一下，以及這將如何實現盈利？尤其需要考慮的是，這是否能增加利潤。你現在已經完成了45%。這能起到推動作用嗎？謝謝。

That's a great question, Lee. But if I might jump in here on the monetization side, that we don't see AI forcing a wholesale change from subscriptions to consumption. Our customers still want predictable access to trusted sign-off engines and certified flows. So multiyear subscription remains the core of our business.

李，你問得好。但就獲利模式而言，我想補充一點，我們並不認為人工智慧會迫使模式從訂閱制徹底轉變為消費制。我們的客戶仍然希望能夠可預測地存取可信任的簽核引擎和經過認證的流程。因此，多年訂閱仍然是我們業務的核心。

What AI does is it changes how much customers run the tools and where value is created. There's more automation. There's more iterations. There's more compute. So we'll attach more usage-based pricing for incremental capacity and AI-driven optimization. We have card models and token models that handle all those things.

人工智慧的角色在於改變顧客使用工具的頻率以及價值的創造方式。自動化程度更高了。還有更多迭代版本。運算能力更強了。因此，我們將對新增容量和人工智慧驅動的最佳化應​​用更多基於使用量的定價機制。我們有卡片模型和令牌模型來處理所有這些事情。

And then in a few areas, on the services side, we can offer outcome-oriented packages that's structured around measurable improvements like cycle time, closure productivity, with clear scope and governance. And that's kind of how we've been going to market in recent times.

然後在一些服務領域，我們可以提供以結果為導向的方案，這些方案圍繞著可衡量的改進（如周期時間、結案效率）構建，並具有明確的範圍和管理。而這基本上就是我們近來進入市場的方式。

And it's worked out well for us. And you can see how it's turning around already recurring revenue. Now we've been prudent in our outlook. And we're not expecting an uptick in that, but it definitely is -- there's plenty of opportunity for Cadence in AI.

這對我們來說是個好結果。你可以看到它是如何扭轉現有的經常性收入局面的。現在我們一直採取謹慎的態度。我們並不預期這種情況會有所改善，但人工智慧領域確實存在著 Cadence 的大量機會。

But as Anirudh said at the beginning, in his opening comments there, that there's two real things to differentiate Cadence. First, we're engineering software, anchored in physics and mathematically rigorous optimization. And that's not a nice to have. It's a core truth that our customers require as complexity rises.

但正如 Anirudh 在開場白中所說，Cadence 有兩個真正的區別。首先，我們從事工程軟體開發，以物理學和數學上嚴格的最佳化為基礎。那可不是什麼好事。隨著複雜性的增加，這是我們客戶所需要的核心真理。

And then secondly, AI is not replacing our products. It's amplifying demand and accelerating adoption. And you see that in our results for 2025. And I think you see it in our guide for 2026. Anything to add?

其次，人工智慧並不會取代我們的產品。它正在放大需求並加速普及。從我們對 2025 年的預測結果可以看出這一點。我想您會在我們的 2026 年指南中看到這一點。還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, it's good, John. Yeah.

不，很好，約翰。是的。

Jason Celino, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Jason Celino，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

Hey, great. Thank you for taking my question. Looks like IP had a phenomenal year. I know you have a slate of new exciting titles coming out, but I just wanted to ask how that translates to pipeline. Like does it take time to sell these new IP titles? And then with the guide overall, it looks mostly first half weighted. Does your visibility in the IP today look more first half or second half? Thanks.

嘿，太好了。感謝您回答我的問題。看來IP今年取得了巨大的成功。我知道你們有一系列令人興奮的新遊戲即將推出，但我只是想問一下，這些新遊戲是如何融入你們的開發流程中的。銷售這些新IP遊戲需要時間嗎？總的來說，這份指南似乎更側重於前半部。目前您在IP領域的可見度更偏向於上半年還是下半年？謝謝。

IP is doing great. I mean, like I said, we want to see multiple years of performance before we call it out. And starting last year, started to call it out because we saw like multiple years and good outlook into '26, which I think should come true. So our starting backlog and everything in IP is strong.

IP領域發展勢頭良好。我的意思是，就像我說的，我們希望看到多年的表現，然後再下結論。從去年開始，我們就開始預測這種情況，因為我們看到了未來幾年以及到 2026 年的良好前景，我認為這應該會實現。因此，我們目前的專案積壓情況以及智慧財產權方面的所有工作都很強勁。

And then we are also talking to, I mean, not just our traditional business with TSMC, which is doing phenomenal, but we have opportunity to engage with the new foundries. So overall, I think IP will be good this year, and we'll see how it progresses. We will keep you updated, but it should be a strong year for IP in '26.

此外，我們也正在與台積電等傳統業務方洽談，台積電目前發展勢頭強勁，但我們也有機會與新興代工廠合作。所以總的來說，我認為IP今年會表現不錯，我們拭目以待。我們會隨時向您報告最新情況，但2026年對於IP產業來說應該是強勁的一年。

Jay Vleeschhouwer, Griffin Securities.

Jay Vleeschhouwer，格里芬證券。

Thank you. Good evening. Anirudh, as we think about what's currently occurring with the AI phenomenon in large EDA historical terms, the last time I would argue that there was a major, let's call it, generational, technical, and procedural change in the industry was in the early 2000s.

謝謝。晚安.Anirudh，當我們從大型EDA歷史的角度思考人工智慧現象目前的發展時，我認為上一次該行業發生重大變革，我們不妨稱之為代際、技術和程序變革，是在2000年代初期。

And I'd like to ask how this time might be different from that phenomenon in the sense that the last time, it was fairly narrowly based in terms of the number of products that grew or were newly adopted. We saw the very interesting phenomenon where average contract durations actually shrank, I think, as customers were looking to perhaps mitigate technical risk and wanted to retain some vendor flexibility or optionality. Hence, the shorter durations at that time.

我想問一下，這次的情況與上次的現像有何不同，因為上次的情況主要是在增長或新採用的產品數量方面比較狹窄。我們看到了一個非常有趣的現象，即平均合約期限實際上縮短了，我認為這是因為客戶可能希望降低技術風險，並希望保留供應商的一些靈活性或選擇權。因此，那時持續時間較短。

Would you say that this time around, the adoption of phenomena might last longer than just a few years of the earlier generation I mentioned, that there wouldn't be necessarily an adverse effect on contract durations, perhaps maybe even a lengthening with longer commitments from customers? And maybe if could talk about how in those big respects, this phenomenon might be broader and more long lasting than what occurred, again, many years ago, but it has some similarities.

您認為這一次，這種現象的普及可能會比我之前提到的上一代現象持續更長時間，不會對合約期限產生不利影響，甚至可能會延長合約期限，促使客戶做出更長期的承諾嗎？或許我們可以談談，在這些重大方面，這種現象可能比多年前發生的現象範圍更廣、持續時間更長，但它也有一些相似之處。

Yeah, that's a great point, Jay. And I mean, we have to see how it unfolds because each time is similar but different. But we are not seeing any change in the duration, which is good. We don't want to -- but there is always more opportunity to see more and more add-ons like we have mentioned in the past.

沒錯，傑伊，你說得很有道理。我的意思是，我們得看看事情會如何發展，因為每次都似曾相識，但又有所不同。但持續時間沒有變化，這是好事。我們並不想這樣——但正如我們過去提到的那樣，總會有更多機會看到越來越多的附加功能。

Now it will affect all parts of the flow. Like in the three-layer cake, the top two layers will fuse together, AI and our core engines. And I think there is opportunity to add, like I said, add new product categories, especially in the front end, this kind of super agent to write RTL, which -- and write -- not just write RTL, which is different from regular kind of vibe coding.

現在它將影響流程的各個環節。就像三層蛋糕一樣，最上面的兩層會融合在一起，人工智慧和我們的核心引擎。而且我認為有機會像我剛才說的那樣，增加新的產品類別，尤其是在前端，添加這種超級代理來編寫 RTL 程式碼，而且不僅僅是編寫 RTL 程式碼，這與常規的風格編碼有所不同。

So what is exciting about ChipStack is not just writing RTL, but also writing test benches, writing verification flows. Because you know that, Jay, anyway, that chip verification is as important as chip design. If you can't verify then the thing -- because all our customers want things to be first time right. So I think the opportunities of AI and verifications are huge because that's an NP-complete exponential problem.

所以 ChipStack 的精彩之處不僅在於寫 RTL，還在於編寫測試平台和編寫驗證流程。傑伊，你知道的，晶片驗證和晶片設計一樣重要。如果你無法驗證，那就麻煩了——因為我們所有的客戶都希望事情一次就能做對。所以我認為人工智慧和驗證的機會非常巨大，因為這是一個 NP 完全的指數問題。

So I think what is also exciting to me on the agentic AI new tools is the ability to verify much more accurately. And then we go from there. I mean, I think I feel good about the strength of the -- at this point, I feel good about all the three layers of the cake.

所以我覺得人工智慧代理新工具最令人興奮的地方在於，它能夠更精確地進行驗證。然後我們就從那裡開始。我的意思是，我覺得蛋糕的三層結構都很堅固——目前為止，我對這三層結構都很滿意。

We have been innovating. We have been first to market, importing our software to new hardware platforms, whether they're parallel CPUs or GPUs or custom chips. Our base tools are performing remarkably well. We are taking share in almost all segments, and then we are first to market with agentic AI.

我們一直在進行創新。我們率先將軟體引進市場，使其能夠適應各種新的硬體平台，無論是並行 CPU、GPU 還是客製化晶片。我們的基礎工具表現非常出色。我們在幾乎所有細分市場都佔據了份額，而且我們率先將智慧人工智慧推向市場。

So I feel good about the portfolio. I feel good about the engagement. Now how exactly it will unfold, I think it should be more long lasting. But we'll -- it's very difficult to predict. So we'll keep you posted, but so far, so good.

所以我對我的投資組合感到滿意。我對訂婚這件事感到很滿意。至於具體會如何發展，我認為應該會持續更久。但是——這很難預測。我們會隨時向您報告最新情況，但目前為止，一切順利。

Yeah, this is John. Just -- I mean, we've been around a long time in terms of chasing Moore's law for the longest time. And we built sales models that generally adapt to aligning price with value while preserving the durability of our recurring revenue model.

是的，這是約翰。我的意思是，我們追求摩爾定律的時間已經很久了。我們建構的銷售模式通常會根據價值調整價格，同時保持我們經常性收入模式的持久性。

I think what you can count in us to do is that we won't undermine customer predictability, that subscriptions will remain the anchor in terms of our primary engagement with our customers. And then we won't take unbounded outcome risk either. Outcomes will be scoped and measurable.

我認為您可以放心的是，我們不會破壞客戶的可預測性，訂閱仍將是我們與客戶互動的主要方式。而且我們也不會承擔無限制的結果風險。結果將有明確的範圍和可衡量性。

And we value -- we're priced on value metrics. Customers can control things like jobs and runs and compute and throughput and things like that. But -- so it will be very, very deliberate and thoughtful in terms of how we grow as we always are.

我們重視價值－我們的定價是基於價值指標。客戶可以控製作業、運作、運算、吞吐量等事項。但是——因此，我們將一如既往地非常、非常謹慎、深思熟慮地發展壯大。

Gianmarco Conti, Deutsche Bank.

吉安馬科·孔蒂，德意志銀行。

Yes, hi. Thank you for squeezing me in. Congrats on a great quarter. I have one question. Sorry to go back on ChipStack. But could we start by giving me some details on how we bridge the gap between ChipStack, which we know is RTL automation, and where it (technical difficulty) versus Cerebrus, which is about implementation with regards to [NAND]?

是的，你好。謝謝你擠出時間幫我。恭喜你本季表現出色。我有一個問題。很抱歉要回到 ChipStack。但我們能否先詳細說明一下，我們如何彌合 ChipStack（我們知道它是 RTL 自動化）與 Cerebrus（它側重於實現方面）之間的差距（技術難度方面）？[NAND]？

I guess, the question is about whether they could be some cannibalization in the future. Staying on the AI theme, could we have some information about, given where model has been happening in AI, whether you're seeing more competition particularly from (technical difficulty) and whether that's kind of coming up (technical difficulty) to clients?

我想，問題在於未來是否會出現互相蠶食的狀況。繼續討論人工智慧這個主題，鑑於人工智慧模型的發展現狀，我們能否了解一下，您是否看到來自（技術難度）的競爭加劇，以及這是否給客戶帶來了（技術難度）方面的影響？

And finally, just to tie up, are there any other constraints in running more agents given that you're able to find more compute, especially at high-design scale?

最後，為了總結一下，考慮到您可以找到更多的運算資源，尤其是在高設計規模下，運行更多代理還有其他限制嗎？

Yeah, hi. Sorry, there is some noise on the line. So I think I got the gist of the question, but I may not have gotten all the points. So sorry, I apologize in advance. I think your question is also about the front-end agent versus Cerebrus and also start-ups, if I -- so first of all, I think Cerebrus is super critical. I mean -- so I think there will be several kind of AI agentic flows that will be needed.

嗨，你好。抱歉，線路上有噪音。所以我覺得我理解了問題的大概意思，但可能沒有完全理解所有要點。非常抱歉，我先在此致歉。我認為你的問題也與前端代理商和 Cerebrus 以及新創公司有關，如果我——所以首先，我認為 Cerebrus 至關重要。我的意思是——所以我認為將會需要幾種類型的AI代理流程。

Now we highlighted ChipStack because it's kind of new, and it's a new category of RTL design and verification. But there at least several agents that we are actively developing. In Cerebrus, we also extended Cerebrus to full flow. So there has to be a front-end design agent like Cerebrus. There's a back-end agent for physical implementation because that takes a lot of time right now and there's a lot of demand for making the implementation more efficient.

我們重點介紹 ChipStack，因為它比較新，是 RTL 設計和驗證的一個新類別。但我們正在積極開發至少幾種藥物。在 Cerebrus 中，我們也把 Cerebrus 擴展到了全流量。所以必須要有像 Cerebrus 這樣的前端設計代理。由於目前實體實作耗時較長，因此需要後端代理來處理，而且對提高實施效率的需求也很大。

And there's similar principles apply in Cerebrus AI Studio. We do more exploration, and the customer gets better results as a result of that. But there will be a lot of activity we will highlight in the future on the back end, on the physical design. So this digital design and verification is one area; physical design is other area. Analog, of course, is ripe for -- finally, we have new technology to see if we can automate more and more of analog and migration flows.

Cerebrus AI Studio 也遵循類似的原則。我們進行了更多探索，客戶也因此獲得了更好的結果。但未來我們將重點放在後端和物理設計方面的許多活動。所以，數位設計和驗證是一個領域；物理設計是另一個領域。當然，模擬技術已經成熟——我們終於有了新技術，可以看看能否將越來越多的模擬和遷移流程自動化。

And then on packaging and system design, so we highlight ChipStack because we're super excited about it, but that doesn't mean that all the other -- there are four or five big agentic flows that we are developing. On the start-ups, we always watch all the start-ups. We had a history of also acquiring them if they are good, but more in the earlier stages like we did with ChipStack. I think that was the best AI start-up out there.

然後是封裝和系統設計，我們重點介紹 ChipStack，因為我們對它感到非常興奮，但這並不意味著其他所有——我們正在開發四到五個大型代理流程。對於新創公司，我們始終關注所有新創公司。我們過去也有收購優秀公司的經驗，但更多是在早期階段，就像我們收購 ChipStack 一樣。我認為那是當時最好的AI新創公司。

And we are very confident in our own R&D. We have like 10,000 people, the best R&D team in competition software. Half of them have advanced degrees. We have 3,000 people with customer support engineers. We're regularly meeting with customers, with big customers. In a given week, we'll have multiple R&D meetings with their R&D. So we keep track of what the customer wants. We have massive investment in R&D.

我們對自己的研發能力非常有信心。我們擁有約 10,000 名員工，是競爭軟體領域最優秀的研發團隊。他們中有一半擁有高等學位。我們有3000名客戶支援工程師。我們定期與客戶會面，包括大客戶。在一週內，我們將與他們的研發部門舉行多次研發會議。所以我們會密切注意客戶的需求。我們在研發方面投入了大量資金。

And typically, I think the start-ups are successful in areas we don't focus in or if you want to enter in new areas. But in terms of AI, we are completely focused. And we always use start-up as an accelerant if need to, but we will have massive investment in this space in all the major domains that our customers want.

通常來說，我認為新創公司會在我們不關注的領域或你想進入新領域的時候取得成功。但在人工智慧領域，我們全力以赴。如有需要，我們始終會利用新創公司作為加速器，但我們將在客戶所需的所有主要領域進行大規模投資。

Ruben Roy, Stifel.

魯本·羅伊，斯蒂費爾。

Yes, thank you. Anirudh, you answered bits and pieces of what I'm about to ask. But I was hoping to put together a question on SG&A and just to understand sort of the longer-term strategy. It seems like some companies, enterprises, industrials, otherwise, are maybe thinking about pulling some simulation workloads in-house or partnering with the AI infrastructure ecosystem. We've seen Synopsys and NVIDIA talk about targeting Omniverse digital twins for that type of thing.

是的，謝謝。阿尼魯德，你已經回答了我接下來要問的一些問題。但我原本希望就銷售、一般及行政費用提出一個問題，並了解一下公司的長期策略。似乎有些公司、企業、工業企業等，正在考慮將一些模擬工作負載轉移到內部，或與人工智慧基礎設施生態系統合作。我們看到 Synopsys 和 NVIDIA 都談到將 Omniverse 數位孿生技術作為此類應用的目標。

How should investors think about your strategy? Is it sort of a neutral strategy, and you'll work with accelerated compute providers, et cetera, and their tools? Or are you trying to build sort of an ecosystem that's Cadence-specific? I'm just trying to understand kind of longer-term strategy and thinking around SG&A. Thank you.

投資人該如何看待你的策略？這算是一種中立的策略嗎？你會與加速運算提供者等及其工具合作嗎？或者，您是否正在嘗試建立一個專門針對 Cadence 的生態系統？我只是想了解關於銷售、一般及行政費用的長期策略和想法。謝謝。

Yeah, thank you for the question. So in SG&A, like there are two critical areas for us. So one is 3D-IC and all the innovation that's happening, both at the package level analysis. And then the other is physical AI, physical simulation like for planes and cars and robots and drones, and that's one of the big reasons to acquire Beta and then Hexagon.

是的，謝謝你的提問。所以，在銷售、一般及行政費用方面，對我們來說有兩個關鍵領域。一是 3D-IC 以及所有正在發生的創新，包括封裝層級的分析。另一個面向是實體人工智慧，例如飛機、汽車、機器人和無人機的實體模擬，這也是我們收購 Beta 和 Hexagon 的主要原因之一。

But we are focused on building the core engines, okay? And the core engines will work with the accelerated compute. Like we have done GPU joint work with Jensen in India for years. And we were the first to port all our solvers to kind of accelerated compute platform. Because the physical simulation word just is -- a lot of the simulation and physical -- like cars and planes and robots kind of CFD and structural simulation -- and I said this before -- is naturally -- without getting too technical, is naturally matrix multiply, okay?

但我們目前專注於打造核心引擎，懂嗎？核心引擎將與加速運算協同工作。就像我們多年來一直與印度的 Jensen 公司開展 GPU 聯合開發專案一樣。我們率先將所有求解器移植到加速運算平台上。因為物理模擬這個詞本身就是——很多模擬和物理——比如汽車、飛機和機器人的 CFD 和結構模擬——我之前說過——自然而然地——不用太技術化，自然而然地就是矩陣乘法，好嗎？

And GPUs and NVIDIA is exceptional at that because AI at core is matrix multiply. So it's a good fit. And then we work with Omniverse and all. But that is not in -- Omniverse is a great platform. But when they actually run Omniverse, they will run our tools through that. So this is another way to go to market and then also directly with customers.

GPU，尤其是NVIDIA，在這方面表現卓越，因為人工智慧的核心是矩陣乘法。所以這很合適。然後我們和 Omniverse 等等合作。但這不在其中——Omniverse 是一個很棒的平台。但當他們真正運行 Omniverse 時，他們會用我們的工具來測試它。所以這是另一種進入市場並直接與客戶接觸的方式。

So we are neutral to that. But Omnibus is a great platform to deploy our products, and NVIDIA has highlighted that with several of our customers. But our goal is to build the basic -- we are an engineering software company. We build a basic solver that can solve the most difficult problems, combine them with AI, combine that with compute, and deploy it to all platforms. So I feel good about our position, that way.

所以我們對此持中立態度。但 Omnibus 是部署我們產品的絕佳平台，NVIDIA 也向我們的幾位客戶強調了這一點。但我們的目標是建立基礎架構——我們是一家工程軟體公司。我們建立了一個能夠解決最複雜問題的基本求解器，將其與人工智慧結合，再與運算結合，並將其部署到所有平台上。所以我覺得我們目前的處境比較樂觀。

Andrew DeGasperi, BNP Paribas.

安德魯·德加斯佩里，法國巴黎銀行。

Thanks for fitting me in. I just had a question. You mentioned several times in the prepared remarks about taking share across the board. And I was just curious, is this kind of a change relative to previous quarters? And is it focused in any particular area? And are you surprised by this relative to what you've seen in the past? Thank you.

謝謝你安排我過來。我有個問題。你在事先準備好的發言稿中多次提到要全面爭取市場佔有率。我只是好奇，這與前幾季相比有什麼變化嗎？它是否專注於某個特定領域？與你過去所見的情況相比，你對此感到驚訝嗎？謝謝。

Yeah, I think our competitive position has improved. So we are noticing that and calling that out, and definitely in hardware given the uniqueness of our platforms in IP. And I mean, a lot of it, you can see it in the results as well. Our growth is much higher than the market.

是的，我認為我們的競爭力有所提升。所以我們已經注意到這一點，並指出了這一點，尤其是在硬體方面，因為我們的平台在智慧財產權方面具有獨特性。我的意思是，很多方面，你也可以從結果看出來。我們的成長速度遠高於市場平均。

So IP is doing well. Hardware is doing well, EDA, 3D-IC. And we are holding, of course, our traditionally good position in analog and gaining in digital and verification. So I feel very good about -- we are technology-centric, R&D-centric company first. And I think all those investments are paying off with customers adopting more of our flows.

所以IP發展勢頭良好。硬體方面發展良好，包括EDA和3D-IC。當然，我們在類比領域保持著我們一貫的良好地位，並在數位和驗證領域不斷取得進展。所以我感覺非常好——我們首先是一家以技術為中心、以研發為中心的公司。我認為所有這些投資都得到了回報，客戶越來越多地採用我們的流程。

Kelsey Chia, Citi.

Kelsey Chia，花旗銀行。

Hi, Anirudh and John. Congrats on a great result. I'd like to dive a little on China. So, John, you mentioned that you contemplated a more prudent guidance from China. China revenue grew 18% last year, outpacing corporate average and also above the initial guidance heading into 2025. How should we think about the sustainability of this strength? And also, what are the assumptions you have embedded in that guidance?

嗨，Anirudh 和 John。恭喜取得如此好成績！我想稍微了解一下中國。約翰，你提到你曾考慮過從中國獲得更謹慎的指導。去年中國市場營收成長18%，超過企業平均水平，也高於2025年的初步預期。我們該如何看待這種優勢的可持續性？此外，您在該指導原則中隱含了哪些假設？

Yes, so look, as we said earlier, the assumptions embedded in the guidance is that we saw 12% of revenue coming from China in 2024 and 13% in 2025. And we expect it will be in a similar range, 12% to 13% for 2026.

是的，正如我們先前所說，該指引中隱含的假設是，我們預期 2024 年來自中國的收入將佔總收入的 12%，2025 年將佔總收入的 13%。我們預計到 2026 年，這一比例將維持在 12% 到 13% 的範圍內。

But what we've seen in China is design activity remains very, very strong, and we're seeing strong bookings growth in the region. But visibility is -- visibility in the pipeline is near term in the first half of the year. So the second half of the year, there's probably more prudence in the second half of this year's guide for China than it would be in the first half because we have more visibility in the first half. Anything to add on design activity in China?

但我們在中國看到的是，設計活動依然非常非常強勁，而且該地區的預訂量也出現了強勁成長。但目前來看，管道建設的可見性僅限於今年上半年。因此，今年下半年的中國市場指南可能會比上半年更加謹慎，因為我們對上半年的市場情況有更清晰的了解。關於中國的設計活動，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Design activity is good in China, and I think it has stabilized. I mean, we had mentioned this last year also; second half had stabilized. And I think it continues to be strong. I mean, China is -- all the trends that are in the US are also in China. A lot of AI chips, a lot of physical AIs even stronger with cars and autonomous driving, EVs. So it's good to see China doing well.

中國的設計活動情況良好，我認為已經趨於穩定。我的意思是，我們去年也提到過這一點；下半年市場已經趨於穩定。我認為它依然強大。我的意思是，中國——美國的所有潮流在中國也同樣存在。大量的 AI 晶片，以及許多實體 AI，在汽車、自動駕駛和電動車領域表現得更強大。所以很高興看到中國發展良好。

Joshua Tilton, Wolfe Research.

Joshua Tilton，沃爾夫研究公司。

Hey, guys. Thanks for sneaking me in, and I will echo my congratulations on a strong quarter. I kind of have a high-level one. I know a lot of times we focus on like what the three-year CAGR has been. And I think on the call, Anirudh mentioned that semi companies now represent or still represent, I think, from my understanding, about 55% of the business.

嘿，夥計們。謝謝你讓我插話進來，我也要祝賀你本季業績出色。我有一個比較高級的。我知道很多時候我們關注的是三年複合年增長率（CAGR）是多少。我認為在電話會議上，Anirudh 提到，半導體公司現在或仍然佔業務的 55% 左右，據我了解。

So my question is, how do we think about growth over the next three years as the mix of semis and systems levels out and what feels like the mix of upfront and recurring level down at what I'm assuming is kind of more sustainable levels than the shifts you've seen over the last few years?

所以我的問題是，未來三年，隨著半成品和系統組合趨於穩定，預付款和經常性付款的組合似乎也下降到比過去幾年所看到的更可持續的水平，我們應該如何看待增長？

Yeah, I think we are super excited about the system companies doing more silicon, and there have been some questions in the past. And like I had said before, I think this is irreversible and accelerating trend. Okay. And of course, we gave several examples this time. And especially because of AI, the system companies will do a lot. And then with physical AI, they will do even more.

是的，我認為我們對系統公司開發更多晶片感到非常興奮，過去也曾有人提出過一些疑問。正如我之前所說，我認為這是一種不可逆轉且加速發展的趨勢。好的。當然，這次我們也舉了幾個例子。尤其是由於人工智慧的發展，系統公司將大有可為。然後，借助實體人工智慧，它們還能做得更多。

Now that number 55%, 45%, first of all, moves very, very slowly because the semi companies are doing well, too. I mean, we are growing at a record pace, but both of them are growing. So semi companies, okay, what NVIDIA has done, of course, is phenomenal.

首先，55%、45% 這兩個數字的變動非常非常緩慢，因為半導體公司也發展得很好。我的意思是，我們的成長速度確實創下了紀錄，但他們兩個公司都在成長。所以半導體公司，好吧，英偉達所取得的成就當然是驚人的。

What is happening with Broadcom is phenomenal. And then Qualcomm, MediaTek, there are so many semi companies are doing phenomenally well. So the ratio -- I think more and more system companies will contribute more. But it doesn't move as fast as you would think, which is a good thing because the semi companies are also growing rapidly.

博通公司正在發生的事情令人驚嘆。還有高通、聯發科，很多半導體公司都發展得非常出色。所以這個比例——我認為越來越多的系統公司會做出更多貢獻。但它的發展速度並沒有你想像的那麼快，這是一件好事，因為半導體公司也在快速成長。

And of course, semi companies will have an essential role in the build-out of AI, which is driving all this growth. So that's what I would like to say.

當然，半導體公司將在人工智慧的建構過程中發揮至關重要的作用，而人工智慧正是推動所有這些成長的動力。這就是我想說的話。

Yeah. And, Josh, I think I mentioned before, we expect the recurring revenue mix to remain around 80% in fiscal '26. That's consistent with 2025. And when we say that we have a prudent guide for 2026, I think there's as much upside in our recurring revenue side business as there is in the upfront side.

是的。喬希，我想我之前提到過，我們預計 2026 財年經常性收入佔比將保持在 80% 左右。這與2025年的情況相符。當我們說我們對 2026 年有一個謹慎的指導方針時，我認為我們在經常性收入方面的成長空間與前期收入方面的成長空間一樣大。

Strategically, we like the balance. Recurring provides durability. Upfront reflects areas where customer demand is accelerating, and we have differentiated assets. But we're seeing strength right across the board, and I think that's why Anirudh is talking about share gains.

從策略角度來看，我們喜歡這種平衡。重複使用可提供持久性。前期投入反映了客戶需求正在加速成長的領域，而我們擁有差異化的資產。但我們看到各方面都表現強勁，我認為這就是阿尼魯德談論股價上漲的原因。

Nay Soe Naing, Berenberg.

Nay Soe Naing，貝倫貝格。

Hi, thank you for taking my question. Maybe one for John. I think you mentioned about leveraging AI internally. And I was wondering how we should think about that in our models. How should we think about your incremental margins going forward?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。或許給約翰一個。我想你有提到在公司內部利用人工智慧。我一直在想，我們應該如何在模型中考慮這個問題。我們該如何看待您未來的增量利潤？

I think with your '26 guide, what you're implying is incremental margin of about 51%, which is slightly below the rate that you've been trending in the last -- recent last few years as well.

我認為根據你的 2026 年指南，你暗示的增量利潤率約為 51%，這略低於你過去幾年（包括最近幾年）的趨勢水準。

So I just want to triangulate with the internal AI leverage and how you're guiding for margin for '26, and how we should think about margins a bit longer term in the age of AI. Thank you.

所以我想結合內部人工智慧的槓桿作用以及你們對 2026 年利潤率的預測，探討在人工智慧時代我們應該如何從更長遠的角度看待利潤率。謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks for the question. I think if you have a look at what we achieved in 2025, we achieved incremental margin of 59%. And I think that points to the fact that there's no near-term ceiling on operating leverage for the company. I mean, the company has performed at about 45% operating margin. So there's a lot of upside to that incremental margin of 59% that we achieved in 2025.

是的。謝謝你的提問。我認為，如果你看看我們在 2025 年取得的成就，我們實現了 59% 的增量利潤率。我認為這表明，該公司的經營槓桿在短期內沒有上限。我的意思是，該公司目前的營業利潤率約為 45%。因此，我們在 2025 年實現的 59% 的增量利潤率還有很大的上升空間。

Generally, we're more prudent with our guide at the start of the year and we try to build from there. But so I think if you compare -- the right compare for the 51% that's in the current guide is probably against what we would guide for incremental margin at the start of each year. But I think it's one of the strongest guides that we've ever had.

一般來說，我們在年初會比較謹慎地制定發展規劃，然後以此為基礎逐步完善。所以我覺得，如果你進行比較——當前指導方針中 51% 的正確比較對象可能是我們每年年初對增量利潤率的指導值。但我認為這是我們迄今為止擁有的最優秀的指南之一。

And then in relation to your commentary about AI and our use of that internally, that's absolutely right. That's what Anirudh's talking about for years now that it's Design for AI and AI for Design. Internally, at Cadence, we learn a huge amount from our own internal group in terms of how AI is used.

至於您提到的人工智慧以及我們在內部使用人工智慧的問題，則完全正確。這就是 Anirudh 多年來一直在談論的，即為 AI 設計，為設計而 AI。在 Cadence 內部，我們從自己的內部團隊學習到了很多關於人工智慧如何使用的知識。

But -- and if you like, I mean, we've built a great business around emulating hardware. And a lot of our AI usage is like emulating engineering flows. But -- and we take advantage of those, and they're helping us to get more value out of the R&D investments that we're making.

但是——如果你願意這麼說的話，我的意思是，我們圍繞著硬體模擬建立了一個偉大的業務。我們對人工智慧的許多應用都類似於模擬工程流程。但是——我們利用了這些優勢，它們幫助我們從研發投資中獲得更多價值。

But we expect to do the same as our customers in that. When you have access to more engineering capability and being able to do things faster and leverage AI, we'll probably do more R&D, and it will be more people, more AI, not less people.

但我們預計在這方面會和我們的客戶一樣。當我們擁有更強的工程能力，能夠更快地完成工作並利用人工智慧時，我們可能會投入更多的研發資源，而且會有更多的人參與研發，更多的人工智慧應用，而不是更少的人參與研發。

And I will now turn the call back to Anirudh Devgan for closing remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給阿尼魯德·德夫根，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, all, for joining us this afternoon. It's an exciting time for Cadence as we begin 2026 with product leadership and strong business momentum. Our continued execution of the intelligent system design strategy, customer-first mindset, and our high-performance culture are driving accelerated growth.

感謝各位今天下午蒞臨。對於 Cadence 來說，這是一個令人興奮的時刻，我們以產品領先地位和強勁的業務勢頭開啟了 2026 年。我們持續貫徹智慧系統設計策略、以客戶為中心的理念以及我們追求卓越的企業文化，正在推動公司加速成長。

Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine recognized Cadence as one of the Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2025, ranking at number 11. And on behalf of our employees and our Board of Directors, we thank our customers, partners, and investors for their continued trust and confidence in Cadence.

Great Place to Work 和《財星》雜誌將 Cadence 評為 2025 年《財星》雜誌評選的 100 家最佳雇主公司之一，排名第 11 位。在此，我謹代表全體員工和董事會，感謝客戶、合作夥伴和投資者對 Cadence 的持續信任和信心。

And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's Cadence fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings conference call. This concludes today's call, and you may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位參加今天 Cadence 第四季及 2025 財年財報電話會議。今天的通話到此結束，您可以掛斷電話了。