MENTOR BUYS VALOR
CONSULTING IN ELECTRONIC DESIGN
Mentor’s acquisition of Valor reflects an increasing verticalization of the PCB design to
manufacturing market. PCB is one of the most mature segments of the EDA industry. Where
it once accounted for the largest segment of EDA revenue, it now represents less than 10%
of total EDA revenue. Today there are primarily 4 vendors of PCB design software: Mentor
Graphics, Cadence, Zuken and Altium. All have grown through both internal development
and acquisitions. The table below (see Figure 1) shows a few of the acquisitions that have
happened in the PCB market over the past few years.
Figure 1: Some acquisitions in the PCB Market
Acquirer
Acquisition Target
Mentor
PADS, Veribest
Cadence
OrCAD
Zuken
Racal-Redac
Altium
Accel
Source: Gary Smith EDA, SEC Filings
The PCB CAM market consists of vendors who offer tools for fabrication, assembly and test.
These are used to automate the design to manufacturing process. Valor is the leading vendor
in the market and also has a joint venture with Orbotech. According to GarySmith EDA’s
latest PCB market trends (see Figure 2 below), the PCB CAM market was $75.5M in 2008,
with Valor being the market leader with 46% of the total.
Figure 2: PCB Software and PCB CAM Software
Revenue Forecast (2008-2013)
Millions of Dollars
$700
$600
$ 514.0
$ 531.5
$ 523.1
$ 524.0
2007
2008
2009
2010
$ 555.0
$ 585.0
$ 610.0
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
Total PCB
Software Forecast
2011
2012
2013
PCB CAM
Forecast
(Source: Gary SmithSeptember
EDA, September
2009)
Source: GarySmithEDA,
2009
www.garysmithEDA.com
© 2009 Gary Smith EDA. All Rights Reserved.
You cannot reprint any material or use any graphics without explicit written permission from Gary Smith EDA.
PAGE 1
Over the years Mentor has invested in PCB design (layout) and analysis software. Mentor’s PCB
software is targeted at both mainstream and power users in the PCB market (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: PCB User Segmentations
Mentor
Cadence
Zuken
Power Users
Mentor
Zuken
Upper Mainstream
EMA (Cadence OrCad)
Altium
National Instruments
(Electronics Workbench)
Lower Mainstream Users
Source: GarySmithEDA, 2009
The recent acquisition of Valor suggests that Mentor is building a vertically integrated
stack for the PCB market, targeted at addressing the complete workflow, from layout
to manufacturing. While the acquisitions may not be much in revenue terms, the design
advantages they offer may provide a much bigger payback.
DAYA NADAMUNI
PHONE +1 (408) 985-2929
FAX +1 (408) 985-6611
daya@ garysmithEDA.com
www.garysmithEDA.com
© 2009 Gary Smith EDA. All Rights Reserved.
PAGE 2
You cannot reprint any material or use any graphics without explicit written permission from Gary Smith EDA.