Arm down in an up market

Arm’s revenues declined slightly in 2019 in a market that grew, says IPnest, reflecting similar situations in 2018 and 2017.

Arm’s royalty revenue declined by 6-7%, says IPnest,  but its licensing revenues  – including physical IP – were up 13%.

Companies ranked by semiconductor design IP revenue in 2019 (millions of dollars). Source: IPnest (March 2020).

ARM once controlled 50% of the IP market  but was down to 40.8% market share in 2019 from 44.7% in 2018, according to IPnest.

Second-ranked Synopsys increased its revenues by 13.8% to claim 18.2% of the market.

The IP revenue of third-placed Cadence jumped 22.9% giving the company 5.9% of the market.

Imagination Technologies, now owned by China-backed Canyon Bridge, saw its IP revenue fall 18.9% and Wave Computing, owner of thevMIPS processor IP licensing business, fell out of the top ten ranking in 2019.

Overall the semiconductor IP market in 2019 was worth about $3.94 billion, up 5.2% from 2018’s $3.74 billion. In 2018 the IP market rose 10%l

Market share for semiconductor IP licensing in 2019 but excluding royalties. Source: IPnest.

Cadence increased revenues by 22.9%, helped byn its Tensilica line and the acquisition of NuSemi.

The changing fortunes of the various categories of  semiconductor IP are shown in this chart: