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Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...
, which develops and produces
semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
s and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,000 employees as of 2021, with over 10,000 patents worldwide, and an annual revenue of $4.5 billion for 2021.
History
Marvell was founded in 1995 by Dr.
Sehat Sutardja
Sehat Sutardja (Se-hát Su-ta_ra ; born c. 1961 in Jakarta, Indonesia) is the co-founder of Marvell Technology Group; formerly chief executive officer and a director. Marvell is involved with industry segments including data storage, mobile and sm ...
, his wife
Weili Dai
Weili Dai () is a Chinese-born American businesswoman. She is the co-founder, former director, and former president of Marvell Technology Group. Dai is a successful female entrepreneur, and is the only female co-founder of a major semiconductor ...
, and brother Pantas Sutardja. The
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
on June 27, 2000 (near the end 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 ...
) raised $90 million.
In April 2016, CEO Sehat Sutardja and President Weili Dai were ousted from their posts after activist investor
Starboard Value fund took a roughly 7 percent stake in the company.
In July 2016, Marvell appointed Matt Murphy as its new President and CEO.
On July 6, 2018, Marvell completed its acquisition of
Cavium, Inc. On the same day, it announced the appointment of Syed Ali (co-founder of Cavium, Inc., and previously the company's president and CEO), Brad Buss (director of Cavium, Inc.) and Edward Frank (director of Cavium, Inc.) to the Marvell Board of Directors.
In September 2019, Marvell completed the acquisition of
Aquantia Corp.
In April 2021, Marvell completed the acquisition of
Inphi Corporation
Inphi Corporation is an American company that produces 10G-800G high-speed analog and mixed-signal semiconductor components and optical subsystems to networking original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), optical module, cloud and telecom service p ...
. As part of the acquisition, Marvell reorganized so that the combined company is domiciled in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
.
Acquisitions
Through the years, Marvell acquired smaller companies to enter new markets.
Products
Compute
Data Processing Unit
Marvell OCTEON and ARMADA
DPUs which integrate a
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
,
network interfaces and programmable data
acceleration engines on a specialized
electronic circuit
An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow. It is a type of electrical ...
.
Custom
Marvell also offered Customer Specific Standard Product (CSSP), where customer accelerators and interefaces could be integrated directly into Marvell's Octeon processors. Following Marvell's 2019 acquisition of Avera Semiconductor (formerly the custom
ASIC
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...
division of
GlobalFoundries
GlobalFoundries Inc. (GF or GloFo) is a multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Malta, New York. Created by the divestiture of the manufacturing arm of AMD, th ...
and prior to that of
IBM), Marvell offers custom
ASIC
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...
tailored to clients' specific design goals.
And it provides services for ASICs
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
*Photographi ...
to the
Aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
and
Defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
industries through its independent subsidiary Marvell Government Solutions (MGS).
=Infrastructure Processors
=
On November 12, 2019, Marvell announced that their
ThunderX2 SoCs have been deployed on
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...
. On March 2, 2020, Marvell announced OCTEON Fusion and OCTEON TX2 5G infrastructure processors, as well as deals to provide processors for
5G Infrastructure for
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
,
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
,
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
,
ZTE
ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.
ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, optic ...
, and
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
. On March 16, 2020, Marvell announced
ThunderX3 and their plan for ThunderX4 in 2022. On August 28, 2020, Marvell announced plan to refocus their ThunderX Server Teams to their Custom Silicon Business.
Security Solutions
Marvell's security-related products include their LiquidSecurity HSM Adapters and NITROX Cryptographic Offload Engines.
Networking
Marvell's networking products include their FastLinQ Ethernet network adapters and controllers,
Ethernet Switch
A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device.
A netw ...
es,
Ethernet PHY
In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, the physical layer or layer 1 is the first and lowest layer; The layer most closely associated with the physical connection between devices. This layer may be implemented by a PHY chip.
The ...
s and
Automotive 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 ...
.
Storage
Marvell's products include SSD Controllers, HDD Controllers, HDD Preamplifiers, Storage Accelerators, and QLogic Fibre Channel Adapters and Controllers. On May 27, 2021, Marvell announced its first
NVM Express
NVM Express (NVMe) or Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification (NVMHCIS) is an open, logical-device interface specification for accessing a computer's non-volatile storage media usually attached via PCI Express (PCIe) bus. The ...
SSD controllers to support
PCI Express 5.0.
Other notable products
Marvell supplied the
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
chip for the
original (first-generation) Apple iPhone. Marvell Mobile Hotspot (MMH) is an in-car Wi-Fi connectivity. The 2010
Audi A8
The Audi A8 is a full-size luxury sedan manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi since 1994. Succeeding the Audi V8, and now in its fourth generation, the A8 has been offered with both front- or permanent all-wheel drive—and in s ...
was the first automobile in the market to feature a factory-installed MMH.
Google's
Chromecast
Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with ...
products are powered by Marvell SoCs. Namely the Marvell ARMADA 1500 Mini SoC (88DE3005) for the Chromecast 1st gen and Marvell ARMADA 1500 Mini Plus SoC (88DE3006) for the Chromecast 2nd gen & Chromecast audio.
Synaptics acquired Marvell Multimedia Solutions on 2017-06-12 ARMADA 1500 SoC's are now produced under different names
Legal cases
Stock options
In 2006, the US
Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
(SEC) started an inquiry on the company's
stock option
In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified dat ...
grant practices.
An investigation determined "grant dates were chosen with the benefit of hindsight" to make the options more valuable.
The press estimated that the founders and other executives had made $760 million in gains from the options, which were awarded by the founding couple, Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai.
The SEC asked to interview the company general counsel Matthew Gloss, but Marvell claimed
attorney–client privilege
Attorney–client privilege or lawyer–client privilege is the name given to the common law concept of legal professional privilege in the United States. Attorney–client privilege is " client's right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any ...
.
Gloss was fired just before the investigation results were announced in May 2007.
Abraham David Sofaer
Abraham David Sofaer (born May 6, 1938) is an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and legal adviser to the United States State Departm ...
was hired to investigate the investigation after Gloss alleged it was not independent. In announcing the results of its own inquiry, the SEC did not give Marvell the credit granted other companies in the options scandal for cooperating with the SEC’s investigation or for cleaning up.
At the time of the announcement, the co-acting regional director of the SEC’s San Francisco office stated, among other things, that the SEC did not believe that the lack of cooperation and remediation shown by Marvell merited much credit in terms being lenient with Marvell.
In announcing its results, the SEC found that Gloss was not a participant in Dai and Sutardja’s backdating scheme.
Marvell restated its financial results, and stated that Dai will no longer be executive vice president, chief operating officer, and a director but continue with the company in a non-management position.
The company agreed to pay a $10 million fine in 2008, but did not fire Dai nor replace Sutardja as chairman as stated by the investigating committee.
Patent infringement
In December 2012, a Pittsburgh jury ruled that Marvell had infringed two patents (co-inventors
Alek Kavčić and Jose Moura) by incorporating hard disk technology developed and owned by
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
without a license.
The technology, relating to improving hard disk data read accuracy at high speeds, was reported to have been used in 2.3 billion chips sold by Marvell between 2003 and 2012.
The jury awarded damages of $1.17 billion, the third largest ever in a patent case at the time. The jury also found that the breach had been "willful", giving the judge discretion to award up to three times the original damage amount.
In December 2012, the company lost its mistrial bid in this dispute. Post-trial hearings were scheduled for May 2013 and Marvell reported to be considering an appeal in the interim.
In August, US District Judge
Nora Barry Fischer upheld the award.
On February 17, 2016, Marvell agreed to a settlement in which Marvell will pay
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
$750,000,000.
See also
*
Marvell Software Solutions Israel
Marvell Software Solutions Israel, known as RADLAN Computer Communications Limited before 2007, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvell Technology Group, that specializes in local area network (LAN) technologies.
History
The company was founded i ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control, state=expanded
American companies established in 1995
1995 establishments in California
Companies based in Santa Clara, California
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Fabless semiconductor companies
Computer companies established in 1995
Electronics companies established in 1995
Manufacturing companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
2000 initial public offerings