Chip Legends

Semiconductor startups are the creative engines which drive the electronics industry because they develop state-of-the-art integrated circuits for next generation products and set the pace for semiconductor innovation. InsideChips is for entrepreneurs, investors, electronics executives, EDA tools marketers,  silicon foundry sales executives, service providers and for executives or firms who wish to do deals with chip startups.

Venture Capitalists obtain a quick-start in sourcing deals and doing due-diligence. Semiconductor startup founders and management can access resources and consultative reports to get their company on a faster track and avoid pitfalls. Companies selling services and products (EDA tools, foundry, PR, rep/distribution, equipment) to semiconductor startups benefit from the extensive database of profiles and follow-up coverage of emerging chip ventures -- enabling them to maximize their business development efforts.  Private investors benefit from an industry insider's stock market viewpoints and analysis of public companies.

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The "Chip Legends" project summarizes the pursuits of captains of the silicon industry, as well as other luminaries, gurus and personalities who were instrumental in shaping the early days of the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley and beyond. Click on the picture for additional historical information. While you are browsing, take InsideChips' semiconductor Trivia Quiz.

Kilopass Technology Kilopass Technology was founded in Feb. 2001 to develop and market advanced non-volatile memory (NVM) technology, manufactured in standard commercial CMOS logic processes. Kilopass developed fundamental patents for anti-fuse technology. It has 54 patents granted or pending on 1T, 2T, and 3.5T bit cell technologies. Its bit cell architecture is compatible with standard CMOS logic, has the same reliability as the foundry's process, scales easily with the process technology, and reduces overall SoC product cost. . . . Continue Glacier Microelectronics A relatively quiet startup up to now, Glacier Microelectronics, is starting to be noticed on the radar screen as it begins to market its synthesizer IC family of products. . . . Continue Tabula The FPGA market is difficult crack since the industry leaders, Altera and Xilinx, have well-entrenched positions -- making it particularly difficult for startups to make headway. A new FPGA company, Tabula, recently emerged from stealth mode to take on the FPGA giants with a new architecture dubbed "Spacetime." The company even took cues from Albert Einstein's space-time cones to construct its logo with the orange cones. In its coming out road show, the company unveiled its ABAX family of 40nm-based 3PLDs. . . . Continue IO Semiconductor IO Semiconductor (IOsemi) is a San Diego, Calif. based fabless semiconductor startup that is focused on applying new technologies to RF devices for the cellular industry using what it calls its ZEROcapTM CMOS Technology. . . . Continue

Semiconductor IPOs Disappoint Investors, Big Losses Racked Up The chart below shows the performance of semiconductor sector IPOs since the start of trading. Since InsideChips began tracking semiconductor IPO performance on January 1, 2005, only two companies, Hittite Microwave (HITT) and Cavium Networks (CAVM) fared well for investors who purchased the stock at the opening price -- 70% plus gain for investors. GSI Technology (GSIT) and Entropic Communications (ENTR) had modest gains (8 to10%). . . . Continue Best and Worst Managed Semiconductor Companies The semiconductor company and CEO rankings are based on submissions from current and recent former employees. Qualcomm scored the highest among 77 companies, and its CEO received high ratings. The ratings submissions range from the hundreds to dozens depending on the company. The companies were ranked from 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale in the following categories: . . . Continue Renesas ELectronics Renesas Electronics Corp. (REC) is moving to bolster its future position and to improve its profitability long term. While the merged Japan-headquartered company has walked away with the number position in microcontrollers, it has been struggling to get is complicated merger smoothly integrated. . . . Continue Ralink Technology Ralink Technology was founded as a Taiwan company in November 2008 by four expatriate executives with a mission build a technology base of wireless LAN chipset solutions. The effort culminated in the first product shipments in 2003. Since the first product introduction, 175 million chips were shipped and the company became a leader in the 802 wireless LAN chipset business garnering about 25% market share. . . . Continue ARM Makes a Tempting Acquisition, But Who Will Take Them ARM Holdings, which has been at the game of IP marketing and licensing since 1983, has been immensely successful -- the most rewarded IP company on the planet. In my view, it is a hot candidate for acquisition by . . . Continue MEMS Timing Oscillator Startup Grabs Funding Sand 9, a start-up up company developing timing oscillator and frequency control technology for the wireless device market has closed a . . . Continue Denali Bows to Cadence, But Will the Party Continue? Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, and Denali Software, a leading provider of EDA software P, plan a merger under which Cadence will acquire privately-held Denali for $315 million from available cash. . . . Continue Syndiant Tops Up B-Round Syndiant, a pioneer of high resolution microdisplays for pico projectors, adds $4.4 million in funding to its B round, bringing the total round to $15.1 million. . . . Continue Russians Determined to Buy Western Chip Technology, Rumors of French Deal in the Making Last autumn Russian president Dmitry Medvedev recommended state corporations to acquire innovative foreign companies to help build a Russian version of Silicon Valley. The legacy Russian chip companies have tended to retain strong Communist traditions, with skilled engineers but inefficient management, older equipment, and weak marketing . . . . Continue MoSys Makes Second Acquisition in a Year MoSys (NASDAQ: MOSY), a provider of differentiated, high-density memory and high-speed interface (I/O) intellectual property has acquired MagnaLynx, a developer of high-speed, low-power serial chip-to-chip communications technology. . . . Continue SiBEAM Adds to Money Chest SiBEAM, a pioneer of millimeter wave (mmWave) solutions and developer of high-speed wireless communications platforms, closed its D-round funding of $36.5 million. . . . Continue Quantenna Reloads Cash Kitty to Ramp Production Quantenna Communications, a supplier of Wi-Fi networking for whole-home entertainment,has raised $15 million Series D round of financing from its current investors Grazia Equity, Sequoia Capital, Sigma Partners, Southern Cross, Swisscom, and Venrock Associates. To date, the startup has raised . . . Continue

Semiconductor Innovation in an Investment Constrained Economy The current innovation climate in the semiconductor industry is alive and well but entrepreneurs have to adjust to the realities of the current economic situation and investment trends. The world's governmental economic development agencies have always looked at Silicon Valley with envy and paid big money to try to find the key which would unlock the secrets . . . Continue Managing the Startup Marcom Program From a management viewpoint, one of the biggest dilemmas of startup technology-based companies, which are relatively small and with limited resources, is how to get their names spread throughout the electronics community. Especially in the case of semiconductor startups with limited budgets, to do so sometimes requires guerrilla tactics. But one of the pitfalls for engineers who start up a company is the notion that if they build a better mousetrap, the world will come and beat down their door to buy their product or service. . . . Continue