Altium
Altium is an electronic design automation brand specializing in PCB design, electronics development, component intelligence, and cloud-based engineering collaboration.
Last updated November 4, 2026
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Overview
Altium is an international electronic design automation software brand whose tools support the design, management, sourcing, and manufacture of electronic products. Its roots go back to Protel Systems, founded in Australia in 1985 by electronics designer Nicholas Martin. The company began with relatively affordable personal-computer software for printed circuit board design, at a time when much professional electronics design work depended on more expensive specialist systems. Its early products included DOS-based PCB layout and schematic tools, which were marketed internationally and later adapted for the Microsoft Windows environment. The business developed around the idea of bringing multiple electronics-design activities into a unified software environment. Instead of treating schematic capture, PCB layout, routing, design-rule checking, component information, FPGA work, and related engineering data as isolated tasks, Protel sought to connect them through a common project structure and design-data model. This strategy helped establish the company’s flagship application, first sold under the Protel name and later known as Altium Designer, as an integrated environment for professional hardware engineers and electronics-development teams. Protel Systems listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1999 and changed its corporate name to Altium in 2001. During the following decade, Altium expanded its geographic presence and broadened its technology portfolio through acquisitions. These included embedded-software specialist TASKING, the component-search platform Octopart, the electronic-component management company Ciiva, enterprise integration provider Perception Software, cloud EDA company Upverter, and PCB manufacturing service PCB:NG. The acquisitions supported a wider strategy in which PCB design was connected with embedded development, component selection, cloud collaboration, manufacturing, and enterprise product-lifecycle workflows. Altium’s core desktop application remains Altium Designer, which provides schematic capture, multilayer PCB layout, interactive routing, component and library management, verification, analysis extensions, and manufacturing documentation. The company subsequently developed Altium 365 as a cloud platform for sharing design data, managing projects, coordinating reviews, controlling versions, and allowing electrical, mechanical, sourcing, and manufacturing participants to work from a shared source of information. Octopart adds searchable data on electronic components, including technical specifications, CAD models, pricing, availability, lifecycle information, and alternatives. In the mid-2020s, Altium reorganized its commercial offering around subscription-based platform families. Altium Develop centers on collaborative electronics product development and integrates PCB design with sourcing, manufacturing, requirements context, and cross-functional review. Altium Agile focuses on governance, managed workflows, integrations, traceability, and enterprise control, with offerings for both growing teams and larger regulated organizations. Altium Discover and Octopart-related capabilities address component and technology discovery and help engineers make sourcing decisions earlier in the design process. These offerings are built around the underlying Altium Designer and Altium 365 technologies, although several older product names and standalone tools have been retired, merged, or repositioned. In February 2024, Renesas Electronics agreed to acquire Altium for approximately US$5.9 billion. The transaction was completed in August 2024, making Altium a Renesas subsidiary and ending its status as an independent listed company. Altium continues to operate as an active software business within the Renesas group. In 2025, it expanded its supply-chain capabilities through the acquisition of Part Analytics and announced Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, a joint platform intended to connect semiconduc…
History
Altium’s history began in 1985, when electronics designer Nicholas Martin founded Protel Systems Pty Ltd in Australia. Martin had worked in an academic environment and identified an opportunity to make PCB design more accessible by applying personal-computer technology to electronics engineering. The company’s first product was a DOS-based PCB layout and design tool. International marketing began soon afterward, while a North American marketing and support arrangement led to the product being sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico under the Tango PCB name. Protel expanded its early product line with DOS-based schematic and PCB tools, including Protel Schematic, AutoTRAX, and EasyTRAX. In 1991 it released Advanced Schematic/PCB 1.0 for Windows, described as the first Windows-based PCB design system. During the 1990s, the company increasingly focused on an integrated electronics-development environment. The objective was to maintain design information in a unified project and data structure so that schematic capture, PCB layout, routing, verification, FPGA work, and related processes could be handled together. Protel 98, Protel 99, and Protel 99 SE marked successive stages in this development. The company complemented internal product development with acquisitions. In 1998 it acquired Accolade Design Automation, and in 2000 it acquired ACCEL Technologies, an earlier North American partner. Protel became publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange in August 1999. In 2001 the corporate name changed from Protel Systems to Altium, reflecting the company’s broader international identity and its ambition to build a more unified electronics design platform. The company also acquired embedded-software developer TASKING in 2001 and distributor Hoschar AG in 2002. Product development continued through Protel DXP, Protel 2004, and the first Altium Designer releases. During the 2000s and early 2010s, Altium expanded beyond conventional PCB design. It developed and acquired technologies related to FPGA development, embedded software, engineering data, cloud applications, and hardware prototyping. In 2010 it acquired Morfik Technology, a developer of visual tools for creating and deploying cloud applications. The company also changed its operational footprint, including an announced expansion in Shanghai and a later relocation of core PCB-tool research and development work to San Diego. Leadership changed in 2012, when the board removed Nick Martin as chief executive and appointed Kayvan Oboudiyat. Oboudiyat retired in 2014 and was succeeded by Aram Mirkazemi. Under Mirkazemi, Altium pursued a strategy of connecting its PCB design environment with component intelligence, manufacturing, enterprise data, and cloud collaboration. Acquisitions included Octopart and Ciiva in 2015, Perception Software in 2016, Upverter in 2017, and PCB:NG in 2018. Octopart gave the company a major electronic-parts search and intelligence capability, while Ciiva and Perception supported component management and enterprise integration. Upverter added browser-based EDA capabilities, and PCB:NG connected design with online PCB assembly and manufacturability checks. Altium increasingly positioned Altium Designer as the desktop design foundation and Altium 365 as a shared cloud layer. Altium 365 enabled teams to centralize project data, exchange design files, conduct reviews, manage versions, and involve manufacturing and sourcing stakeholders. The strategy reflected the growing complexity of electronics development, in which electrical engineering must interact with mechanical design, requirements, procurement, manufacturing, compliance, and lifecycle management. In 2021, Altium rejected an acquisition proposal from Autodesk. In December 2023, it acquired Valispace, a German systems and requirements engineering company, to extend Altium 365 toward systems-level product development. In 2024 and 2025, Altium reorganized its commercial portfolio around Altium Discover, Altium Develop, and Altium Agile. These platform families brought together Altium Designer, Altium 365, component data, requirements context, supply-chain information, governance, and integrations with enterprise systems. Older offerings such as CircuitMaker, CircuitStudio, NEXUS, Concord Pro, and Vault were retired, merged, or superseded as the unified-cloud strategy developed. Renesas Electronics agreed to acquire Altium in February 2024 for approximately US$5.9 billion and completed the transaction in August of that year. Altium consequently became a Renesas subsidiary and ceased to be an independent listed company. The brand remains active within the Renesas group. In January 2025 it acquired Part Analytics to strengthen component planning and procurement, and in March 2025 Renesas and Altium announced Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, a planned platform linking semiconductor selection with electronics-system development and lifecycle management.
- 2025
Part Analytics acquired
[3]Altium acquired Part Analytics to strengthen AI-assisted electronics supply-chain planning and procurement.
- 2025
Renesas 365 announced
[3]Renesas and Altium announced a joint platform intended to connect silicon selection with electronics-system development.
- 2024
Renesas acquisition completed
[2]Renesas Electronics completed its acquisition of Altium, which became a Renesas subsidiary.
- 2023
Valispace acquired
[1]Altium acquired Valispace to add systems and requirements engineering capabilities to its cloud platform.
- 2021
Autodesk proposal rejected
[1]Altium rejected an Autodesk bid valued at approximately A$5.05 billion.
- 2018
PCB:NG acquired
[1]Altium acquired an online PCB assembly service offering design-for-manufacturability checks.
- 2017
Upverter acquired
[1]The acquisition added cloud-based EDA capabilities to Altium’s portfolio.
- 2016
Perception Software acquired
[1]Altium acquired an enterprise product-lifecycle-management integration provider.
- 2015
Octopart and Ciiva acquired
[1]The acquisitions expanded Altium into electronic-component search, data, and management workflows.
- 2010
Morfik Technology acquired
[1]Altium acquired Morfik, a developer of visual tools for cloud-application development and deployment.
Products and positioning
Professional and enterprise-oriented electronics design and development software connecting PCB engineering with cloud collaboration, component intelligence, manufacturing, requirements, and supply-chain workflows.
Electronic design automation · 2005
Altium Designer
Altium Designer is the brand’s principal PCB and electronics-design application. It combines schematic capture, multilayer board layout, interactive routing, component and library management, design-rule checking, documentation, manufacturing outputs, and selected analysis functions. The product is designed primarily for Microsoft Windows and is used by professional hardware engineers, contractors, product teams, and organizations developing electronic systems across automotive, aerospace, defense, telecommunications, industrial, and consumer markets.
Cloud electronics collaboration
Altium 365
Altium 365 is a cloud platform that centralizes electronics design data and connects Altium Designer with project collaboration, review, version history, access control, and manufacturing workflows. It allows electrical and mechanical engineers, sourcing teams, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to work from shared project information. The technology has become the underlying cloud layer for Altium’s broader Develop and Agile platform strategy.
Collaborative electronics product development · 2024
Altium Develop
Altium Develop is a platform for multidisciplinary electronics product development centered on PCB design, sourcing, manufacturing, and cloud collaboration. It connects Altium Designer with project data, requirements context, version history, component supply-chain information, and stakeholder review. The platform is intended to give engineers, manufacturers, and other contributors shared visibility into design changes and decisions throughout product development.
Enterprise electronics lifecycle management · 2024
Altium Agile
Altium Agile provides structured governance and managed workflows for electronics and systems development. Its Agile Teams edition is aimed at smaller or growing organizations that need foundational control over data and processes, while Agile Enterprise is designed for larger, regulated, or digitally mature companies requiring integrations with PLM, ERP, requirements, compliance, and other enterprise systems. The platform emphasizes traceability, security, process management, and connection between ECAD and wider product-development environments.
Component and technology discovery · 2024
Altium Discover
Altium Discover supports solution-oriented exploration of electronic components and technologies. It is intended to preserve the context of design intent while helping engineers identify suitable parts, communicate with manufacturers and distributors, and make more informed technical and sourcing decisions. Its capabilities are connected to the component intelligence and search functions associated with Octopart.
Electronic component intelligence
Octopart
Octopart is an electronic-parts search and intelligence service operated by Altium. It provides component specifications, parametric data, CAD models, distributor availability, pricing, lifecycle information, compliance details, alternatives, and cross-references. Its BOM Tool allows users to upload or create bills of materials and match listed components against the Octopart database for sourcing and supply-chain analysis.
PCB design software
CircuitMaker
CircuitMaker was a free PCB design tool associated with Altium and aimed at makers, hobbyists, students, and other users seeking accessible board-design software. It is no longer the principal focus of Altium’s product strategy and has largely been superseded by the company’s cloud-platform direction.
PCB design software
CircuitStudio
CircuitStudio was a mid-tier PCB design product positioned below Altium Designer. It offered schematic and board-design capabilities for users who did not require the full flagship feature set. The product was retired in the early 2020s, with relevant functionality consolidated into Altium’s wider design portfolio.
Enterprise PCB workflow
Altium NEXUS
Altium NEXUS was an enterprise-oriented PCB and electronics workflow product focused on collaboration, data management, and controlled design processes. It was discontinued and replaced by the Altium Agile platform as Altium moved toward a unified cloud and enterprise-governance model.
Cloud EDA · 2017
Upverter
Upverter is a cloud-based electronic design platform acquired by Altium in 2017. Its browser-oriented approach complemented Altium’s broader move toward online collaboration and accessible electronics design workflows.
Systems and requirements engineering · 2023
Valispace
Valispace is a systems and requirements engineering platform acquired by Altium in 2023. Its capabilities are intended to connect system-level requirements and engineering relationships with electronics design information managed through Altium’s cloud environment.
Embedded software toolchain · 2001
TASKING
TASKING was an embedded-software development toolchain acquired by Altium in 2001. It formed part of Altium’s historical expansion beyond PCB design but was later divested in 2021.
Brand decisions
2025
Acquire Part AnalyticsM&ABackground
Electronics developers increasingly require component planning, procurement visibility, and supply-chain risk management alongside design tools.
Action taken
Altium acquired Part Analytics, an AI-powered supply-chain management provider for the electronics industry.
Aftermath
The acquisition was intended to strengthen enterprise component planning and procurement capabilities within Altium 365.
2025
Announce Renesas 365, Powered by AltiumProduct launchBackground
Following Renesas’s acquisition of Altium, the companies sought to connect semiconductor selection with system-level electronics development.
Action taken
They announced Renesas 365, Powered by Altium, a joint platform built on Altium 365 technology.
Aftermath
General availability was expected in early 2026, according to the announcement.
2024
Accept Renesas Electronics acquisitionM&ABackground
Renesas sought to expand its semiconductor business with software capabilities covering electronics design and system development.
Action taken
Altium agreed to be acquired by Renesas for approximately US$5.9 billion; the transaction completed in August 2024.
Aftermath
Altium became a Renesas subsidiary and ceased to operate as an independent listed company.
Acquisition value. Approximately US$5.9 billion (Announced February 2024; completed August 2024)
2024
Reorganize commercial offerings around platform familiesStrategyBackground
Altium had accumulated desktop design, cloud collaboration, component intelligence, and enterprise workflow capabilities.
Action taken
The company organized its offerings around Altium Discover, Altium Develop, and Altium Agile, using Altium Designer and Altium 365 as foundational technologies.
Aftermath
Several older standalone products were retired, merged, or repositioned under a broader subscription and cloud-platform model.
2021
Reject Autodesk acquisition proposalM&ABackground
Autodesk had expanded into PCB design through its acquisition of EAGLE and proposed a transaction valuing Altium at approximately A$5.05 billion.
Action taken
Altium rejected the proposal and remained an independent public company.
Aftermath
Altium continued its standalone cloud-platform and electronics-lifecycle strategy until its later acquisition by Renesas.
Proposed valuation. Approximately A$5.05 billion proposed valuation (2021)
2001
Adopt the Altium corporate identityStrategyBackground
The company had developed from Protel Systems into an international supplier of integrated electronics-design software.
Action taken
It changed its corporate name to Altium and continued expanding beyond the original Protel product identity.
Aftermath
The Altium name became the basis for the company’s global brand and flagship Altium Designer product family.
Recent events
Reported
Autodesk terminates acquisition discussions with Altium[4]
Autodesk announced that it had terminated discussions to acquire Altium, saying the parties were unable to agree on the basis to advance discussions.
Reported
Altium launches #MyAltiumStories showcase contest[5]
Altium launched the #MyAltiumStories contest, inviting engineers, students, inventors, and companies to submit PCB design work for a chance to be featured on the Altium Stories YouTube channel and win prizes.
Sources5 sources
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