Cadence, Electronic Arts Lead Silicon Valley in R&D Spending

Cadence Design Systems Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Synopsys Inc. top the list of Silicon Valley companies pouring money into research and development, committing at least 32 percent of sales to R&D in the past year.

Silicon Valley businesses, whose fortunes depend on creating new products, together invested billions of dollars in research on everything from software and computer chips to Internet services and biotechnology. R&D spending rose 13 percent in the latest quarter from a year earlier, the fastest pace in two years.