Altium Taps Veteran Don Cantow to Lead Open Platform Strategy

SAN DIEGO, CA – December 30, 2025 – Altium, a global leader in electronics design systems, has appointed industry veteran Don Cantow as its new General Manager, a move set to accelerate the company’s ambitious platform strategy following its 2024 acquisition by Renesas Electronics Corporation. Effective January 1, 2026, Cantow is tasked with driving the adoption of Altium as an open, accessible industry platform, a pivotal role in Renesas's broader vision to digitalize the entire electronics ecosystem.

The appointment signals a new chapter for Altium as it deepens its integration within Renesas. Cantow will report to Aram Mirkazemi, the former Altium CEO who now serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Renesas Software & Digitalization Product Group. This leadership structure underscores the strategic importance of Altium's software and cloud capabilities to Renesas's long-term goals.

An Architect for an Open Ecosystem

Don Cantow brings more than three decades of leadership experience, making him a uniquely qualified figure to spearhead Altium's next phase. His career is a roadmap of the electronics industry's evolution, with over two decades at Mentor Graphics (now Siemens EDA), where he held senior roles during its growth into a global enterprise leader. There, he was instrumental in leading worldwide enterprise engagements and cultivating strategic customer relationships.

His tenure also includes key strategic sales and marketing roles at semiconductor giant Texas Instruments, providing him with firsthand experience in the silicon side of the industry—a crucial perspective for his new role within the Renesas framework. For the past eight years at Altium, Cantow has been a central figure in building the company's enterprise business and forging the strategic partnerships that laid the groundwork for its current platform-centric push.

Aram Mirkazemi expressed high confidence in the appointment, highlighting Cantow's unique qualifications. “Altium has a long-held vision of becoming an industry platform that connects the entire electronics ecosystem—large and small—around a common digital backbone,” said Mirkazemi. “Don is uniquely prepared to advance that vision. His breadth of industry experience and his strength in strategic partnership are exactly what is required to drive broad industry adoption and take Altium into its next phase.”

Cantow's educational background, with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and executive education from MIT Sloan and Columbia Business School, further solidifies his expertise at the intersection of technology and business strategy.

The Platform-First Pivot Post-Acquisition

Cantow’s leadership comes at a crucial time. Since Renesas finalized its $5.9 billion acquisition of Altium in August 2024, the company has aggressively pursued a "platform-first" business model. This strategy moves beyond its flagship PCB software, Altium Designer, to position its cloud-based collaboration platform, Altium 365, as the central hub for the entire electronics design and lifecycle management process.

The goal is to create a seamless digital thread from initial concept to manufacturing and beyond, specifically tailored to support the development of complex, software-defined products. This pivot reflects a broader industry trend where the lines between hardware and software development are increasingly blurred. By extending its platforms with system design and lifecycle management capabilities, Altium aims to provide a unified environment that breaks down traditional silos between engineering disciplines.

This strategic direction was already taking shape before the acquisition. In 2023, Renesas standardized its own internal PCB design processes on the Altium 365 platform and committed to publishing its extensive component libraries for Altium users, setting a clear precedent for deep integration. The acquisition was the logical next step, transforming a partnership into a fully integrated strategy.

Renesas's Grand Vision: From Silicon to System

Cantow's appointment is a key move in Renesas's larger quest to transform itself from a component supplier into a comprehensive solutions provider. The Japanese semiconductor giant is building an integrated and open electronics platform that bridges the gap between silicon design and system-level implementation, a concept it calls the "chip-to-cloud continuum."

The most tangible outcome of this synergy is the "Renesas 365, Powered by Altium" platform. This virtual design environment unifies software, firmware, and hardware development, integrating Renesas's portfolio of processors, analog, and power components directly into Altium's cloud-based design tools. This allows engineers to work within a single ecosystem, drastically reducing the complexity and time-to-market for new products. This "silicon to system" approach is a significant differentiator in a historically fragmented market.

To further this vision, Renesas is establishing a U.S.-based holding company in early 2026 to centralize and oversee its Software & Digitalization business, including Altium. This move is designed to enhance governance and operational efficiency while providing the flexibility for future growth, such as the January 2025 acquisition of supply chain management firm Part Analytics, Inc., which further bolsters the platform's lifecycle capabilities.

Navigating a Competitive and Consolidating Market

Altium's push for an open, integrated platform is set against a backdrop of intense competition and consolidation in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) market. The industry, valued at over $17 billion in 2024, is projected to more than double by 2032, fueled by the relentless complexity of IoT devices, 5G, and automotive electronics.

Altium competes with established giants like Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys, and Siemens EDA. The trend towards platformization is industry-wide, exemplified by Synopsys's massive $35 billion acquisition of Ansys in 2025, a move aimed at creating a unified platform for silicon-to-system design.

In this environment, Altium and Renesas are betting on "openness and accessibility" as their core competitive advantage. While competitors build powerful but often closed ecosystems, Altium’s mission under Cantow is to create a common digital backbone that connects the entire industry, from semiconductor companies to small design houses. The unique integration of Altium's software prowess with Renesas's silicon manufacturing offers a compelling value proposition that few others can match.

As he prepares to take the helm, Cantow sees a clear path forward. “The convergence of electronic design, cloud platforms, and semiconductor innovation creates a unique opportunity to redefine how the industry designs and delivers products,” he stated. “It also provides a unique opportunity to modernize how the industry engages – and to accelerate engagement to match the pace of innovation. I look forward to working with our customers and partners to realize that vision.”

This vision, combining deep industry experience with a forward-looking platform strategy, is what Altium and Renesas are counting on to redefine the future of electronics development.