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LSI Logic Corporation, an American company founded in
Milpitas, California Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar ...
, was a pioneer in the ASIC and
EDA EDA or Eda may refer to: Computing * Electronic design automation * Enterprise Desktop Alliance, a computer technology consortium * Enterprise digital assistant * Estimation of distribution algorithm * Event-driven architecture * Exploratory ...
industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in data centers, mobile networks and client computing. On May 6, 2014, LSI Corporation was acquired by Avago Technologies (now known as
Broadcom Inc. Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
) for $6.6 billion.


History


1981–2004

In 1981,
Wilfred Corrigan Wilfred J. Corrigan is a British engineer and entrepreneur, known for founding and running LSI Logic Corp. He was the chairman and chief executive of LSI for over two decades until 2005, during the earlier part of which he made vital contribu ...
, Bill O'Meara, Rob Walker and Mitchell "Mick" Bohn founded LSI Logic Corporation in
Milpitas, California Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar ...
. Wilfred Corrigan served as the CEO from 1981 until 2005. LSI was initially funded by venture capitalists, including
Sequoia Capital Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
, with $6 million. A second round of funding from Sequoia Capital as well as a number of companies from England came In March 1982, bringing in another $16 million. The initial plan called for a line of
CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...
gate array A gate array is an approach to the design and manufacture of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) using a prefabricated chip with components that are later interconnected into logic devices (e.g. NAND gates, flip-flops, etc.) according ...
s created from “masterslices” which were uncommitted transistors customized to a specific application by the deposition of unique metal interconnections. The intention was to have the masterslices manufactured by external semiconductor companies and then do the metallization themselves. In order to jump start the business, they licensed an existing CMOS gate array design and reverse engineered and improved on the
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
ECL array. The initial EDA flow was based on TEGAS simulation and place and route from Silvar-Lisco. Integrated on Megatek hardware the first interactive CAD system was called (LSI Design System) LDS. What made them unique from other ASIC vendors at the time was that they willing to ship the software to their customers rather than keeping it in-house, which was the strategy used by market leaders at the time. In 1982 they started development of their own in-house CAD tools and moved to Silicon Graphics hardware. By 1988, the EDA industry had developed enough that customers wanted to be able to use 3rd party tools. Sales grew rapidly and they were able to launch a successful initial public offering on the
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
exchange in May 1983 that brought in $153 million. Stock symbol: LSI. In 1985, the firm entered into a joint venture with
Kawasaki Steel Kawasaki Steel Corporation (Kawasaki Seitetsu) was a Japanese steel manufacturing company. History Originally forming the Steel Making Department of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Kawasaki Steel Corporation was incorporated in August 1950 follow ...
—Japan's third largest steel manufacturer—to build a $100 million wafer fabrication plant in
Tsukuba is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 244,528 in 108,669 households and a population density of 862 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 20.3%. The total ar ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. In 1987,
SEMATECH SEMATECH (from Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) is a not-for-profit consortium that performs research and development to advance chip manufacturing. SEMATECH has broad engagement with various sectors of the R&D community, including chipma ...
(Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) was incorporated partially in result of the 1984 National Cooperative Research Act, which reduced potential antitrust liabilities of research joint ventures. SEMATECH is a research and development consortium to advance semiconductor and chip manufacturing. LSI Logic was among the 14 founding members, but withdrew from SEMATECH in January 1992. In December 1987,
MIPS Computer Systems MIPS Technologies, Inc., formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., was an American fabless semiconductor design company that is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of RISC CPU chips based on it. MIPS provides proc ...
brought on LSI Logic as a licensee to ability to fabricate the R2000 and
R3000 The R3000 is a 32-bit RISC microprocessor chipset developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS I instruction set architecture (ISA). Introduced in June 1988, it was the second MIPS implementation, succeeding the R2000 as the flag ...
chipsets and provided a license to implement the
MIPS I MIPS (Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipelined Stages) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures (ISA)Price, Charles (September 1995). ''MIPS IV Instruction Set'' (Revision 3.2), MIPS Technologies, ...
instruction set architecture In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA), also called computer architecture, is an abstract model of a computer. A device that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ' ...
(ISA) in ASIC form. In July 1991, LSI entered into an agreement with
Sanyo Electric , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
of Japan to make a set of chips that translate an
HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
signal into a television image. LSI Logic started developing its CoreWare technology in 1992. In 1993,
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
chose LSI Logic as their ASIC partner, charged with fitting the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
CPU on a single chip. LSI's CoreWare could do it, while other offers made to Sony needed two chips. Sony also worked with LSI's engineers develop the graphics engine, DMA controller, I/O and bus controllers. In 1995, LSI Logic acquired the remaining shares its Canadian subsidiary held, which amounted to 45%. In 1997, Mint Technology, an engineering services company, was acquired by LSI. In August 1998 it bought
Symbios Logic Symbios Logic was a manufacturer of SCSI host adapter chipsets and disk array storage subsystems. It was originally established as the NCR Microelectronics division of NCR Corporation in 1972, before NCR's takeover by AT&T Corporation in 1991. In ...
from Hyundai Electronic for $760 million cash. In February 1999, LSI acquired Seeq Technology, adding physical-layer based
Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
technology to LSI's product line. In May 2000, LSI acquired IntraServer for $70 million, with expectations to add their rapidly expanding customer base to LSI's own. In November 2000, LSI acquired Syntax Systems, and in August 2001 the groups merged to become LSI Logic Storage Systems, and later Engenio Information Technologies. In March 2001 LSI acquired
C-Cube C-Cube Microsystems was an early company in video compression technology as well as the implementation of that technology into semiconductor integrated circuits and systems. C-Cube was the first company to deliver on the market opportunity prese ...
for $878 million in stock. In that same quarter, LSI introduced Gflx, a flexible process technology. In September 2001 LSI acquired a
RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...
adapter division from American Megatrends in a $221 million cash transaction. Included in this deal, LSI received AMI's MegaRAID software intellectual property, host bus adapter products and 200 RAID employees. LSI and Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek) entered an alliance making StorageTek the distributor of their co-branded storage products in January 2002. In August 2002 LSI acquired
Mylex Mylex Corporation was an American computer company active from 1983 to 1999. The company mainly produced peripherals and expansion cards for personal computers—chiefly the IBM Personal Computer—for the bulk of its existence, although it also pr ...
from IBM, to expand its storage technologies. In November 2003, LSI sold its Tsukuba, Japan facility to ROHM Company, Ltd. The Engenio division of LSI filed for its own IPO in 2004, but withdrew citing adverse market conditions after the burst of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
.


2005 to present

May 2005, Abhi Talwalkar joined the company as president and CEO, and was also appointed to the board of directors. Talwalkar was an executive at
Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...
before joining LSI, and began a program of acquisitions and divestitures. October 2005, LSI Logic opened a semiconductor design and engineering development center at the
Dubai Silicon Oasis Dubai Silicon Oasis known as DSO ( ar, واحة دبي للسيليكون) is a free-trade zone established by the Dubai government in 2003, spanning an area of 7.2 square kilometers. History In 2003, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- ...
(DSO) Microelectronics Innovation Center. April 2006, LSI Logic sold the
Gresham, Oregon Gresham ( ) is a city located in Multnomah County, Oregon, in the United States of America, immediately east of Portland, Oregon. It is considered a suburb within the Greater Portland Metropolitan area. Though it began as a settlement in the mid- ...
design and manufacturing facility to
ON Semiconductor onsemi (stylized in lowercase; legally ON Semiconductor Corporation; formerly ON Semiconductor until August 5, 2021) is an American semiconductor supplier company, based in Phoenix, Arizona and ranked #483 on the 2022 ''Fortune'' 500 based on it ...
for $105 in cash October 2006, LSI Logic agreed to an all-stock merger with
Agere Systems Agere Systems, Inc. was an integrated circuit components company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Spun out of Lucent Technologies in 2002, Agere was merged into LSI Corporation in 2007. LSI was in turn acquired by Avago Technologies in 2014. In ...
worth about $4 billion. March 2007, LSI Logic acquired SiliconStor Inc., a provider of semiconductor solutions for enterprise storage networks, for approximately $55 million in cash. April 2007, LSI Logic completed its merger with Agere Systems Inc., who previously owned LSI's Mobility Products Group, and rebranded the firm LSI Corporation. July 2007, Magnum Semiconductor Inc. a spin-off of
Cirrus Logic Inc. Cirrus Logic Inc. is an American fabless semiconductor company, fabless semiconductor supplier that specializes in analog, mixed-signal, and audio Digital signal processor, DSP integrated circuits (ICs). Since 1998, the company's headquarters h ...
, acquired LSI's consumer products business and 13 percent of LSI's workforce. These lines included architectures named DoMiNo and Zevio, evolutions of the
C-Cube Microsystems C-Cube Microsystems was an early company in video compression technology as well as the implementation of that technology into semiconductor integrated circuits and systems. C-Cube was the first company to deliver on the market opportunity prese ...
technology. August 2007, LSI signed an agreement with STATS ChipPAC Ltd to sell its Pathumthani, Thailand semiconductor assembly and test operations for $100 million. In October 2007, LSI acquired Tarari, a maker of silicon and software, for $85 million in cash. Tarari's products integrated into LSI's NSPG organization. October 2007 LSI completed its sale of its Mobility Division to Infineon Technologies AG (Munich) for $450 million in cash. Approximately 700 LSI employees transferred to Infineon in the deal. July 2009, LSI agreed to acquire ONStor, Inc. for $25 million. LSI put ONStor into its Engenio storage division, which is a
NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...
vendor. LSI bought the
3ware Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (also known as AppliedMicro, AMCC or APM) was a fabless semiconductor company designing network and embedded Power ISA (including a Power ISA license), and server processor ARM (including an ARMv8-A license), ...
RAID adapter business of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation in April that same year. March 2011, LSI announced its sale of its Engenio external storage systems business to
NetApp NetApp, Inc. is an American hybrid cloud data services and data management company headquartered in San Jose, California. It has ranked in the Fortune 500 from 2012–2021. Founded in 1992 with an IPO in 1995, NetApp offers cloud data services ...
for $480 million in cash. The sale of the Engenio division, which generated revenues of $705 million in 2010, completed in May. January 2012, LSI completed the acquisition of
SandForce SandForce was an American fabless semiconductor company based in Milpitas, California, that designed flash memory controllers for solid-state drives (SSDs). On January 4, 2012, SandForce was acquired by LSI Corporation and became the Flash Com ...
, which produced
flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...
controllers (for $370 million reported in October 2011). LSI started producing its own
PCIe PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common mo ...
cards for data center servers, using SandForce's flash controller chips, under their new Nytro product line that April. This included three different products: LSI Nytro WarpDrive Application Acceleration Cards, LSI Nytro XD Application Acceleration Storage Solution, and LSI Nytro MegaRAID Application Acceleration Cards. On December 16, 2013,
Avago Technologies Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
(which later acquired Broadcom Corp, and then renamed itself as Broadcom LTD, then in 2018 changed its name to
Broadcom Inc. Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...
) announced it would be acquiring LSI Corporation for $6.6 billion in cash. The transaction closed on May 6, 2014.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lsi Corporation Computer storage companies Fabless semiconductor companies Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct semiconductor companies of the United States Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Milpitas, California American companies established in 1981 Computer companies established in 1981 Electronics companies established in 1981 Technology companies established in 1981 Computer companies disestablished in 2014 Electronics companies disestablished in 2014 Technology companies disestablished in 2014 1981 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 2014 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies