Cadence makes the software every chip is designed in. Before any GPU or phone processor reaches TSMC's factory, engineers at NVIDIA, Apple, Qualcomm and the rest lay it out, simulate it and verify it inside Cadence's tools — and increasingly license ready-made circuit blocks (IP) from Cadence too. With Synopsys it forms a duopoly over the invisible blueprints behind modern silicon, and it is pushing those same simulation tools out into cars, planes and 'physical AI'.
Where Cadence sits
Cadence lives at the 'design' stage: nothing it makes is physical. Its software is the workbench where engineers draw, simulate and verify a chip before TSMC ever prints it — making it a toll-booth on almost every advanced chip in the world.