Revenue

12 Months Ended

Jan. 02, 2021

Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]

REVENUE

REVENUE

Cadence groups its products into five categories related to major design activities. The following table shows the percentage of product and related maintenance revenue contributed by each of Cadence’s five product categories and services for fiscal 2020 and 2019:

	2020		2019		2018
Custom IC Design and Simulation	25	%	25	%	26	%
Digital IC Design and Signoff	29	%	30	%	29	%
Functional Verification, including Emulation and Prototyping Hardware*	22	%	23	%	24	%
IP	14	%	13	%	12	%
System Design and Analysis	10	%	9	%	9	%
Total	100	%	100	%	100	%

_____________

* Includes immaterial amount of revenue accounted for under leasing arrangements.

Revenue by product category fluctuates from period to period based on demand for products and services, and Cadence’s available resources to deliver them. Certain of Cadence’s licensing arrangements allow customers the ability to remix among software products. Cadence also has arrangements with customers that include a combination of products, with the actual product selection and number of licensed users to be determined at a later date. For these arrangements, Cadence estimates the allocation of the revenue to product categories based upon the expected usage of products.

Significant Judgments

Cadence’s contracts with customers often include promises to transfer to a customer multiple software and/or IP licenses and services, including professional services, technical support services, and rights to unspecified updates. Determining whether licenses and services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately, or not distinct and thus accounted for together, requires significant judgment. In some arrangements, such as most of Cadence’s IP license arrangements, Cadence has concluded that the licenses and associated services are distinct from each other. In others, like Cadence’s time-based software arrangements, the licenses and certain services are not distinct from each other. Cadence’s time-based software arrangements include multiple software licenses and updates to the licensed software products, as well as technical support, and Cadence has concluded that these promised goods and services are a single, combined performance obligation.

The accounting for contracts with multiple performance obligations requires the contract’s transaction price to be allocated to each distinct performance obligation based on relative SSP. Judgment is required to determine SSP for each distinct performance obligation because Cadence rarely licenses or sells products on a standalone basis. In instances where the SSP is not directly observable because Cadence does not sell the license, product or service separately, Cadence determines the SSP using information that maximizes the use of observable inputs and may include market conditions. Cadence typically has more than one SSP for individual performance obligations due to the stratification of those items by classes of customers and circumstances. In these instances, Cadence may use information such as the size of the customer and geographic region of the customer in determining the SSP.

Revenue is recognized over time for Cadence’s combined performance obligations that include software licenses, updates, technical support and maintenance that are separate performance obligations with the same term. For Cadence’s professional services, revenue is recognized over time, generally using costs incurred or hours expended to measure progress. Judgment is required in estimating project status and the costs necessary to complete projects. A number of internal and external factors can affect these estimates, including labor rates, utilization and efficiency variances and specification and testing requirement changes. For Cadence’s other performance obligations recognized over time, revenue is generally recognized using a time-based measure of progress reflecting generally consistent efforts to satisfy those performance obligations throughout the arrangement term.

If a group of agreements are so closely related that they are, in effect, part of a single arrangement, such agreements are deemed to be one arrangement for revenue recognition purposes. Cadence exercises significant judgment to evaluate the relevant facts and circumstances in determining whether the separate agreements should be accounted for separately or as, in substance, a single arrangement. Cadence’s judgments about whether a group of contracts comprise a single arrangement can affect the allocation of consideration to the distinct performance obligations, which could have an effect on results of operations for the periods involved.

Cadence is required to estimate the total consideration expected to be received from contracts with customers. In limited circumstances, the consideration expected to be received is variable based on the specific terms of the contract or based on Cadence’s expectations of the term of the contract. Generally, Cadence has not experienced significant returns or refunds to customers. These estimates require significant judgment and the change in these estimates could have an effect on its results of operations during the periods involved.

Contract Balances  

The timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoicing to customers, and these timing differences result in receivables, contract assets, or contract liabilities (deferred revenue) on Cadence’s consolidated balance sheets. For certain software, hardware and IP agreements with payment plans, Cadence records an unbilled receivable related to revenue recognized upon transfer of control because it has an unconditional right to invoice and receive payment in the future related to those transferred products or services. Cadence records a contract asset when revenue is recognized prior to invoicing and Cadence does not have the unconditional right to invoice or retains performance risk with respect to that performance obligation. Cadence records deferred revenue when revenue is recognized subsequent to invoicing. For Cadence’s time-based software agreements, customers are generally invoiced in equal, quarterly amounts, although some customers prefer to be invoiced in single or annual amounts.

The contract assets indicated below are presented as prepaid expenses and other in the consolidated balance sheet and primarily relate to Cadence’s rights to consideration for work completed but not billed as of the balance sheet date on services and customized IP contracts. The contract assets are transferred to receivables when the rights become unconditional, usually upon completion of a milestone.

Cadence’s contract balances as of January 2, 2021 and December 28, 2019 were as follows:

	As of
	January 2, 2021		December 28, 2019
	(In thousands)
Contract assets	$	9,709	$	10,209
Deferred revenue	553,921		428,883

Cadence recognized revenue of $345.9 million, $311.8 million and $284.3 million during fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, that was included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of each fiscal year. All other activity in deferred revenue is due to the timing of invoices in relation to the timing of revenue as described above.

Payment terms and conditions vary by contract type, although terms generally include a requirement of payment within 30 to 60 days. In instances where the timing of revenue recognition differs from the timing of invoicing, Cadence has determined that its contracts generally do not include a significant financing component. The primary purpose of invoicing terms is to provide customers with simplified and predictable ways of purchasing Cadence’s products and services, and not to facilitate financing arrangements.

Remaining Performance Obligations

Revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations represents the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied, or partially unsatisfied, which includes unearned revenue and amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods. Cadence has elected to exclude the potential future royalty receipts from the remaining performance obligations. Contracted but unsatisfied performance obligations were approximately $3.9 billion as of January 2, 2021, which included $133.6 million of non-cancellable IPAA commitments from customers where actual product selection and quantities of specific products or services are to be determined by customers at a later date. Contracted but unsatisfied performance obligations were approximately $3.6 billion as of December 28, 2019, which included $205.7 million of non-cancellable IPAA commitments from customers. As of January 2, 2021, Cadence expected to recognize approximately 55% of the contracted but unsatisfied performance obligations, excluding non-cancellable IPAA commitments, as revenue over the next 12 months and the remainder thereafter.

Cadence recognized revenue of $51.2 million, $40.4 million and $34.3 million during fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, from performance obligations satisfied in previous periods. These amounts represent royalties earned during the period and exclude contracts with nonrefundable prepaid royalties. Nonrefundable prepaid royalties are recognized upon delivery of the IP because Cadence’s right to the consideration is not contingent upon customers’ future shipments.