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.

ZeroG Wireless ZeroG Wireless, founded in early 2006, is an emerging fabless chip company which wants to be known as the company "enabling the Internet of things." Its vision is to bring to market devices which can interconnect a vast array of appliances and products with an engineering-friendly, turnkey, embedded Wi-Fi solution. . . . Continue LucidLogix Technologies LucidLogix Technologies is an Israeli fabless chip startup which wants to revolutionize the high-end gaming segment with what it calls a real-time redistribution engine, dubbed HYDRA, which redistributes graphics intensive workloads across several GPUs. . . . Continue

Solido Design Automation Hires Top Marketing and Sales Executive Solido Design Automation, a developer of process variation solutions for transistor-level design of analog/mixed-signal, custom digital and memory integrated circuits, brought in EDA veteran, Marti . . . Continue SIA Flips Forecast to Negative Growth Next Year The SIA released its annual forecast of global semiconductor sales, projecting the first decline in sales since 2001. . . . Continue VCs Call for Drastic Action, "All Hands on Deck" Battle Stations Mode VCs are battening down the hatches and telling their portfolio companies to take measures to survive -- never mind about getting more funding. Last month memos went out from several famous Silicon Valley VCs to their portfolio company CEOs laying down the dire warnings: conserve cash, cut costs, start generating revenue. . . . Continue Ambric Suspends Operations, Puts Out "For Sale" Sign Ambric, a Beaverton, Oregon-based pioneer in Massively Parallel Processor Arrays (MPPAs), is putting itself up for sale including its product line, patents and other assets. Ambric's programming model and silicon architecture provided the industry's first platform capable of delivering high performance media processing solutions several times faster than what is currently possible on DSPs and FPGAs. . . . Continue Novafora The Rakib brothers, who founded Terayon Communication Systems in 1993, have reappeared on the semiconductor scene as founders of Novafora (formerly known as Sipharos Semiconductor). . . . Continue siXis With its technology created at RTI International in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, siXis (formerly Beeco) is developing the next generation of chip level integration through a Silicon Integrated Circuit Board (SICB) technology platform. . . . Continue Xelerated Names China Head Xelerated, a developer of Carrier Ethernet ASSP chipsets, appointed Christer Rydberg as its new GM in China. With more than 10 years of experience in the Asian market, Rydberg will lead the wor . . . Continue Quartics Taps AMD Exec for CEO Role Quartics, a Southern Calif. fabless startup in the media processing space, has named Mario Rivas, formerly executive VP of AMD, as its CEO. . . . Continue Jobs Makes PowerPlay at IBM, iPod Chief Steps Down After quietly buying up an upcoming fabless microprocessor chipmaker, PA Semiconductor, in April of this year for $278 million, Apple's Steve Jobs has lured an IBM chip executive to come over to take a bite of the Apple. . . . Continue Consumer Confidence Plunges, Online Job Ads Flat, Chips Hit the Skids Online advertised vacancies were essentially unchanged at 4,439,000 in October, following a large loss in September, according to The Conference Board's Help-Wanted Online Data Series (HWOL)™. Large l . . . Continue Japan Matters for USA Chip Industry Semiconductor executives are pondering what the future holds for Japan's electronics export industry as the country's stock markets implode and the Yen's strong gains may slow down exports -- adding another roadblock to the already slowing consumer electronics spending in the U.S.A. . . . Continue Korean Chipmakers Hit by Weak Demand Samsung's third quarter profits plunged 44% from the year-ago period due to double digit profit declines in the LCD and semiconductor groups. Amid its restructuring operations, MagnaChips has decided to exit CMOS image sensor business. . . . Continue

Map Out Your Standards Strategy Should you be chasing standards with your chips or playing the proprietary game? This question goes to the heart of your company business plan, and you need a well defined answer. . . . Continue Selecting and Entering the First Asian Market Striking out from the home market in America and creating a sales presence in Asia can be a daunting task. Your company is young. Revenues until now have come exclusively from the market you and the executive team best understands, America. It is now time to expand your revenue opportunities by launching a sales and marketing presence in Asia. Where do you start? How do you commence? . . . Continue