AI Design Leader 'Cadence' CEO Sells Large Amount of Shares While Retaining Billions in Equity

On May 22 and June 1–2, 2026, Anirudh Devgan, CEO of Cadence Design Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNS), exercised stock options in two separate transactions and then sold the resulting common shares, generating approximately $49 million (about KRW 70 billion) in cash.

In the first transaction on May 22, Devgan exercised roughly 25,000 options and sold about 51,000 shares at an average price of around $370 per share. In the second transaction over June 1 and 2, he exercised approximately 26,000 options and disposed of a combined 76,000 shares at prices near $395 and $415 per share.

Following these sales, Devgan’s direct common shareholding decreased from 303,525 to 253,519 shares. At current market levels, he still retains an equity stake valued at roughly $113 million (about KRW 1.5 trillion). On the same day, Senior Vice President Chingchi Teng exercised 1,000 options, sold a portion of her common stock, and continues to hold shares worth roughly $5.56 million (about KRW 75 billion).

At Computex 2026 in Taiwan this June, Cadence, in collaboration with Nvidia, unveiled the industry’s first fully autonomous virtual AI engineer for chip design, further advancing its ChipStack AI–based EDA solution suite.

Headquartered in San Jose, California, Cadence Design Systems is a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) and multiphysics simulation software for the semiconductor industry. Listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CDNS, the company supports chip and system design for leading semiconductor and big-tech clients.