Cadence Says Skills Shortage Is Delaying Expansion.

A shortage of experienced chip designers is holding back plans by Cadence Design Systems Inc to expand its Livingston, Scotland operation, which specializes in contract design work for many of the best-known names in the IT industry. The company will next week move into a purpose-built 18m pound ($28.9m) design center but says that hopes of a rapid build up of the operation from under 300 to around 1,000 personnel have been held up by staff shortages. A Cadence official said that while there was no shortage of suitable graduates, the lack of experienced staff to supervise their work held up recruitment.

The company denied claims in the Scottish press that it has effectively cut its original staffing target of 2,000 in half, and a government official insisted that Cadence had only lowered its Scottish ambitions "for the time being." Cadence said the hunt for experienced designers had been extended to Europe and the US.