8-K

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                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                              WASHINGTON, DC 20549

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                                    FORM 8-K

                                 CURRENT REPORT
                     PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
                         SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

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Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):    January 4, 2001



                          CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.
               (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)




                                                   
          Delaware                      1-10606                77-0148231
(State or Other Jurisdiction       (Commission File         (I.R.S. Employer
     of Incorporation )                 Number)          Identification Number)



                          2655 SEELY AVENUE, BUILDING 5
                          SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA   95134
               (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code:  (408) 943-1234


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ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.

         On January 4, 2001, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., a Delaware
corporation (the "Registrant"), issued a joint press release with CadMOS
Design Technology, Inc., a California Corporation ("CadMOS"), announcing that
the Registrant entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CadMOS.

ITEM 7.  FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND EXHIBITS.

(C)  Exhibits



     Exhibit No.           Description
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     Exhibit 99.1          Press Release of the Registrant and CadMOS Design
                           Technology, Inc. issued on January 4, 2001.







                                   SIGNATURES

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Dated as of January 5, 2001.

                                   CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.

                                 
                                   By: /s/ R.L. Smith McKeithen
                                       ----------------------------------------
                                       R.L. Smith McKeithen
                                       Senior Vice President and General Counsel









                                  EXHIBIT INDEX




Exhibit No.          Document
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Exhibit 99.1         Press Release of the Registrant and CadMOS Design
                     Technology, Inc. issued on January 4, 2001.

EX-99.1

                                  EXHIBIT 99.1


   CADENCE EXTENDS SOC LEADERSHIP WITH ACQUISITION OF CadMOS DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

ACQUISITION ADDS WORLD-CLASS SIGNAL INTEGRITY CAPABILITIES TO SP&R

SAN JOSE, CALIF., JANUARY 4, 2001:

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CDN), the world's leading supplier of
electronic design products and services, today announced that it has signed a
definitive agreement to acquire CadMOS Design Technology, Inc., a privately held
design tools firm headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Financial terms of the
agreement were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the
first quarter of 2001.

The CadMOS acquisition will provide Cadence-Registered Trademark- with
world-class signal integrity analysis capability that will be incorporated into
the Cadence front- and back-end SP&R design solutions, and into the Assura-TM-
physical verification and extraction tool suite.

As designers migrate to ultra-deep sub-micron (UDSM) they face new challenges in
order to produce high-quality, high-performance, high-yielding designs. In
particular, as process technology scales and clock frequencies increase, the
amount of on-chip noise increases dramatically, making signal integrity the next
big problem in achieving successful designs. "Adding CadMOS signal integrity
analysis engines to established Cadence analog and digital design solutions
provides us with the best correct-by-design timing and signal integrity closure
capabilities in the industry," said Paul McLellan, corporate vice-president of
custom integrated circuit (IC) products at Cadence. "These benefits will enable
us to provide our customers with tools that substantially improve yield,
performance, and predictability." According to Charlie Huang, chairman and CEO
of CadMOS, "By marrying our team and technology to Cadence -- the leading vendor
in system-on-a-chip (SOC) solutions -- we can accelerate the changes in
methodology and flows that are becoming necessary for designers to achieve
working UDSM silicon. In fact, these products are available today and already in
use at leading customers such as Lucent Technologies, Texas Instruments, Sony,
Broadcom, PMC-Sierra, and AMD."

ABOUT CadMOS
CadMOS was founded in 1997 to provide solutions to the noise problems
experienced in UDSM processes. Its noise-analysis solutions are targeted at both
digital and mixed signal designers working in microprocessors, DRAMs,
mixed-signal SOC, and ASICs. CadMOS currently has 25 employees.

ABOUT CADENCE
Cadence is the largest supplier of electronic design automation products,
methodology services, and design services used to accelerate and manage the
design of semiconductors, computer systems, networking and telecommunications
equipment, consumer electronics, and a variety of other electronics-based
products. With approximately 5,200 employees and 1999 annual revenue of $1.1
billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research facilities
located around the world. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and
traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the



symbol CDN. For more information, visit http://www.cadence.com.
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EXCEPT FOR HISTORICAL INFORMATION, THE MATTERS DISCUSSED IN THIS RELEASE CONTAIN
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS BASED ON CURRENT EXPECTATIONS OR BELIEFS AND ARE
SUBJECT TO FACTORS AND UNCERTAINTIES THAT COULD CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER
MATERIALLY FROM THOSE DESCRIBED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. FOR A
DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THESE AND OTHER CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS, PLEASE REFER TO
CADENCE'S FILINGS WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. THESE INCLUDE THE
COMPANY'S ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED JANUARY 1, 2000 AND THE
MOST RECENT QUARTERLY REPORT ON FORM 10-Q FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30,
2000.

For more information, please contact:
Valerie Smith
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
408-428-5795
vsmith@cadence.com
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Jim McCanny
CadMOS Design Technology
408-795-1212 x 511
jim@cadmos.com
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Cadence and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks, and Assura are
trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.