Anirudh Devgan

Anirudh Devgan was born on September 15, 1969 in India. He spent his childhood in New Delhi, where his father was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi). After attending Delhi Public School (DPS), he attended IIT Delhi from 1986 until 1990, graduating with a Bachelor of Technology degree in electrical engineering.

Moving to the United States to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, at Carnegie Mellon he earned his Master's Degree (1990-1991) and Ph.D (1991-1993) in electrical and computer engineering. He began attending the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2018.

IBM and Magma Design Automation

After graduating with his Ph.D., Devgan's first job was working for IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, New York starting in 1994. He did research for several years before moving into a product group within International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). He ultimately spent 12 years at IBM in management and research, working at divisions such as the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, the IBM Server Division, the IBM Microelectronics Division, and the IBM Austin Research Lab. At IBM, his research on electronic design automation (EDA) algorithms and design optimisation techniques "contributed to IBM’s leadership in the 1990s and 2000s in high-performance microprocessor and server designs."

Devgan joined Magma Design Automation in 2005, where he held various roles such as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the company's Custom Design Business Unit. During his seven years at Magma, he "initiated and brought to market multiple new products in the areas of circuit simulation, analog mixed-signal design, physical verification, library characterisation and 3D extraction among others."

Cadence Design Systems

In 2012, Devgan joined Cadence Design Systems, a software development company based in San Jose, California that focuses on tools to aid in chip design. Holding a number of senior leadership roles, he initially served as executive vice president and general manager of the company's Digital & Signoff Group and System Verification Group.

He was named Cadence president in November 2017. The role gave him oversight of Cadence’s EDA products, as well as corporate strategy, marketing and business development. Devgan joined the Cadence board of directors in August 2021, and in December 2021 he was promoted to CEO. He succeeded Lip-Bu Tan. Devgan had established Cadence's Intelligent System Design strategy by 2022, focusing on incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning into the company's products and software platforms. Under Devgan, in 2022 the Cadence Giving Foundation donated $3.7 million to various initiatives, and the following year, Cadence invested $50 million in a racial equity fund managed by the Royal Bank of Canada and Global Asset Management.

By 2023, Devgan had been quoted by publications such as The New York Times on matters relating to software and chip manufacturing. Interviewed for CNBC's Closing Bell about Cadence's financials in February 2023, Devgan asserted that almost any chip designed in the world was done so with Cadence software. He appeared again on CNBC in May 2023 on Mad Money with Jim Cramer, again to discuss the semiconductor industry and Cadence. In September 2023, he was quoted by Bloomberg stating the US should invest more in semiconductor packaging to ensure it was leading in areas such as artificial intelligence. In 2023, he was ranked the fifth highest-paid CEO of Indian nationality. He was a speaker at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology Media and Communications Conference in May 2024.

Devgan resides in the Bay Area of California.