Microsemi Corporation was an

Aliso Viejo, California Aliso Viejo (Spanish for "Old Sycamore") is a city in the San Joaquin Hills of southern Orange County, California. It had a population of 47,823 as of the 2010 census, up from 40,166 as of the 2000 census. It became Orange County's 34th city on ...

-based provider of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. In February 2018, it was announced that

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the ...

-based

Microchip Technology Microchip Technology Inc. is a publicly-listed American corporation that manufactures microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP integrated circuits. Its products include microcontrollers ( PIC, dsPIC, AVR and SAM), Serial EEPROM ...

was acquiring the company for over US$10 billion, pending regulatory approval. In May 2018, it was announced that Microchip had completed its acquisition of Microsemi. In August 2018, Microchip discovered that Microsemi shipped large orders to distributors on discount before the closing of the acquisition and had a culture of excessive extravagance, casting some doubt on the future prospect of the acquisition.

History

1959 to 1970: Early years

Microsemi was founded in February 1959 in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

as MicroSemiconductor. It incorporated in Delaware on September 27, 1960. A trade catalog and price lists from this early period can be found at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. In March 1963, A. Feldon represented Microsemiconductor Corp in the Advisory Panel of Suppliers at the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

session on "Components for Miniaturized Electronic Assemblies".
According to the Missiles and Rockets magazine, in 1964 "Molecular packaging of integrated circuits has been suggested by Microsemiconductor Corp. This would involve the same process the company uses for diodes it supplies to the Improved Minuteman program." Microsemiconductor is cited in 1965 as supplier of miniature silicon diodes that are "ideal to use as beam profile detectors or to measure depth-dose distribution of small collimated beams." by University of California's Ernest O. Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. In 1966, two of the company's engineers, E.S. Resnond and M.W. Stillwell, published a Production Engineering Measures Study, on High Voltage Oscillators. As of 1969, Microsemiconductor's address was still 11250 Plaza Court, Culver City, CA 90230.
On August 13, 1969, Standard Resources Corporation, from

Copiague, New York Copiague ( ) is a hamlet on Long Island (and census-designated place) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 23,429 at the 2020 census. Copiague is an unincorporated place within Babylon. Geography Copiague is locat ...

, a close-end management investment company, filed at the

U.S. 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 ...

a request to merge with Microsemiconductor. This request disclosed that the major shareholders of Microsemiconductor as of May 31, 1969, were Arthur Feldon (31%), Steve Manning (31%) and Thomas C. Hall (10%). At the end of the proposed merger the company would retain the name Microsemiconductor. At the time, J.M. Kaplan's JemKap Inc owned 37.7% of the outstanding common shares of Standard, which would make him the owner of 18.9% of the surviving company. Standard Resources and Microsemiconductor merged in November 1969.

1971 to 2000: The Philip Frey Jr years

According to the ''Orange County Business Journal'', "In 1971, the New York operation was spun off and Philip Frey Jr. was brought on from Teledyne Inc.'s semiconductor division in Hawthorne to head Microsemiconductor. At the time, the company had annual sales of about $500,000, almost entirely to defense industry customers. In 1972, the company moved from Culver City to

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

. Microsemi still was almost exclusively a defense business in 1987, but by then sales were close to $50 million. That same year, the company did a $35 million convertible bond offering, the proceeds of which were used to acquire about a dozen companies, most of them struggling "bargain" buys. When the acquisitions began straining profitability, Frey didn't waste a lot of time admitting his mistake. In 1989, Microsemi began selling them off. Sales, which hit a then-high of $104 million in 1989, fell to $83 million by 1991. But they've grown almost every year since and are expected by analysts to exceed $150 million for the fiscal year just ended. (1996)" On July 1, 1982, Jemkap Inc acquired 48.6% of Microsemiconductor Class A Stock., and Microsemisemiconductor acquired the Siemens Components Group in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. Microsemiconductor renamed itself to Microsemi, in February 1983. On March 9, 1986, Microsemi, at the time a supplier of "high-performance semiconductor diodes in a variety of military, industrial and commercial products", issued 2.5 million shares of common stock. Up until this time, Jacob M Kaplan of New York owned or controlled 38.4% of the company shares, and was 94 years-old. Microsemi raised $26 million in the stock sale. Jacob Merril Kaplan, who was a philanthropist, died in Manhattan, NY on July 20, 1987. Microsemi was originally traded

Over the Counter Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid prescr ...

, commonly traded as MicrSm. On March 1, 1990, Microsemi joined 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. On March 1, 1987, Microsemi sold $35M in convertible debentures. Between 1986 and 1990 Microsemi acquired over 60% of the shares of 11 companies. In June 1991 Microsemi created two join-ventures in Taiwan for packaging in Taiwan its component dies made in Santa Ana, California. Microsemi established its presence in Ireland in 1992 through the acquisition of a facility in Ennis Co. Clare. The Ennis facility's key competencies are the development, manufacturing and high reliability testing of semiconductors to meet stringent aerospace, satellite, medical and security standards. In July 1992 Microsemi acquired Unitrode's semiconductor products division. In February 1993 Microsemi's stock crashed 54%, because of a cash crunch. "Microsemi has been restructuring for several years as defense budget cuts have slowed its sales. In 1989, the company said it planned to sell or close 10 subsidiaries not related to its core business of manufacturing computer chips for use in electronics equipment ranging from military weapons to heart pacemakers. The company sold four subsidiaries, shut down one, combined two and retained three. The company took $20.5 million in write-offs during the past three years in connection with the restructuring." In April 1994 Microsemi formed a joint venture in China with Shanghai Electrical Apparatus, with 60% of the joint-venture belonging to Microsemi. Linfinity, whose CEO was Jim Peterson, was the first

Integrated Circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

company acquired by Microsemi, in 1999.

2000 to 2018: The James J. Peterson years

On November 30, 2000, Microsemi promoted Jim Peterson to president and CEO. Jim Peterson was previously the president of Linfinity. In 2001 Microsemi relocated its headquarters from

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

. Between 2006 and 2011 Microsemi acquired a mix of space/hi-reliability focused companies (MDT, TSI, Babcock, Spectrum Microwave), defense/security focused companies (Endwave, White Electronics, Arxan, Brijot, AML), and also companies focused in discrete and IC power products for commercial applications (Advanced Power Technology, PowerDsine, Nexsem), as well as communications focused companies (PowerDsine, VT Silicon, Zarlink) a programmable logic company (Actel) and an ASIC design house focused on analog mixed-signal (ASIC Advantage). In 2011 Microsemi relocated its headquarters from

. In August 2012, Microsemi marked its 20 years of operations in Ireland by naming Ennis its European headquarters. It also announced the inaugural Microsemi Scholarship in engineering at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

. In addition, the company funded a high-profile science and aerospace engineering programme in St. Flannan's school in Ennis. Microsemi works closely with the Industrial Development Authority (IDA Ireland), which is responsible for attracting and developing overseas investment in Ireland. Support from IDA Ireland was a key factor in the company's decision to invest in the region. Between 2012 and 2013 Microsemi acquired Timing companies (the timing business of Maxim Integrated Products, Symmetricom) in addition to Zarlink. In November 2013, Jim Peterson promoted Paul Pickle to COO and president, retaining the CEO position, and accumulating the position of chairman of the board. In 2014 Microsemi established a design group in Cork, Ireland, through the acquisition of Mingoa, which is focused on advanced system-on-chip (SoC) software and solutions with an emphasis on ARM processor-centric designs. Between 2014 and 2015 Microsemi acquired communications and data-center focused companies (Mingoa, Centellax, Vitesse, PMC-Sierra). In March 2016 Microsemi announced the divestiture of the defense-focused business units acquired between 2009 and 2011. In April 2016 Microsemi announced the divestiture of its Broadband Wireless Division, which was previously part of

PMC-Sierra PMC-Sierra was a global fabless semiconductor company with offices worldwide that developed and sold semiconductor devices into the storage, communications, optical networking, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces. On January 15, 2016, ...

for $21 million. In October 2017 Microsemi announced the acquisition of the timing business of Vectron International from Knowles for $130 million. In March 2018, Microsemi's PolarFire FPGA was named "2017 Product of the Year" by Electronic Products China and 21ic.com. In March 2018 Microchip Technology announced it would acquire Microsemi for approximately $10 billion.

Products

Microsemi has been producing various electronic products, including high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs. Microsemi has provided semiconductor solutions for numerous U.S. space programs dating back to the launch of the first Atlas rocket. Several of Microsemi's space products were used in the historic landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover in 2012. Microsemi products were also used for mission critical applications such as launch systems, avionics, telemetry, navigation, drive control, mission computers, cameras and other instruments. ; FPGAs and SoCs * Flash-based FPGAs and SoCs from 5K to 150KLUTs * Space-grade FPGAs * Space-grade Analog Front end for FPGAs ;Storage *

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 ...

Controllers and Adaptec SAS/

SATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard t ...

host adaptors *HBA Controllers and Adaptec SAS/

host adaptors * SAS/

Switches and Adaptec Expanders *Flashtec

NVMe 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 ...

Controllers *Flashtec NVMRAM Drives *Switchtec PCIe switches ;

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 ...

and Network processors *

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 *Ethernet Software *Winpath Network Processors ;Optical Products * Optical Transport Network (OTN) products *Optical Line Drivers ;

Power over Ethernet Power over Ethernet, or PoE, describes any of several Technical standard, standards or ad hoc systems that pass electric power along with data on Ethernet over twisted pair, twisted-pair Ethernet cabling. This allows a single cable to provide ...

*PoE Injectors *PoE Switches *PoE PSE ICs *PoE PD ICs ;Audio and Voice *Timberwolf

Audio processor Audio signal processing is a subfield of signal processing that is concerned with the electronic manipulation of audio signals. Audio signals are electronic representations of sound waves—longitudinal waves which travel through air, consisting ...

s *SLIC ;Timing & Synchronization *

Time server Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

s *

Atomic clock An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions betwee ...

s *Rugged Oscillators * PLL *

Frequency synthesizer A frequency synthesizer is an electronic circuit that generates a range of frequencies from a single reference frequency. Frequency synthesizers are used in many modern devices such as radio receivers, televisions, mobile telephones, radiotelephon ...

s *

Precision Time Protocol The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a protocol used to synchronize clocks throughout a computer network. On a local area network, it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-microsecond range, making it suitable for measurement and control systems. ...

Grand Masters and Software ;Power Management *Switching and Linear

Voltage regulator A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage. A voltage regulator may use a simple feed-forward design or may include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic components ...

*Electronic Fuses * Ideal Solar Bypass Devices *Space-grade

Power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...

;Power Discretes and Modules *

SiC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

Diode A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance); it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction, and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other. A diode ...

s, MOSFETs and

power module A power module or power electronic module provides the physical containment for several power components, usually power semiconductor devices. These power semiconductors (so-called dies) are typically soldered or sintered on a power electronic ...

s * IGBTs *

BJT A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar ...

s and

JFET The junction-gate field-effect transistor (JFET) is one of the simplest types of field-effect transistor. JFETs are three-terminal semiconductor devices that can be used as electronically controlled switches or resistors, or to build amplifier ...

s ;RF

Transceiver In radio communication, a transceiver is an electronic device which is a combination of a radio ''trans''mitter and a re''ceiver'', hence the name. It can both transmit and receive radio waves using an antenna, for communication purposes. Thes ...

s *Ultra Low Power Wearable Radio *Implantable Radio ;

WLAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office buildin ...

RF Front End *Power Amplifiers *LNAs *FEMs ;RF/Microwave Discretes *

MMIC Monolithic microwave integrated circuit, or MMIC (sometimes pronounced "mimic"), is a type of integrated circuit (IC) device that operates at microwave frequencies (300 MHz to 300 GHz). These devices typically perform functions such as ...

s *

PIN diode A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. Pin or PIN may also refer to: Computers and technology * Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system ** PIN pad, a PIN entry device * PIN, a former Dutch ...

s *

Varactor In electronics, a varicap diode, varactor diode, variable capacitance diode, variable reactance diode or tuning diode is a type of diode designed to exploit the voltage-dependent capacitance of a reverse-biased p–n junction. Applications Vara ...

s *

Gunn diode A Gunn diode, also known as a transferred electron device (TED), is a form of diode, a two-terminal semiconductor electronic component, with negative resistance, used in high-frequency electronics. It is based on the "Gunn effect" discovered in 1 ...

s *

Gallium nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords ...

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

s ;Circuit Protection *

Transient-voltage-suppression diode A transient-voltage-suppression (TVS) diode, also transil or thyrector, is an electronic component used to protect electronics from voltage spikes induced on connected wires. Description The device operates by shunting excess current when the ...

s * Medical Surge Protection

Acquisitions

1980s acquisitions

*2H 1982: Siemens Components Group (Scottsdale, Arizona) *July 1986: Bikor, divested in July 1993 *July 1986: RPM Enterprises *June 1987: Solitron's Rectifier Assembly Unit *July 1987: Hybrid Components Inc *August 1987:

Diodes Incorporated Diodes Incorporated is a global manufacturer and supplier of application specific standard products within the discrete, logic, analog, and mixed-signal semiconductor markets. Diodes serves the consumer electronics, computing, communications, in ...

(20%), divested in January 1990 *September 1987: Vitarel (60%) *August 1987: Omni Technology, divested in December 1993 to Technology Marketing *September 1987: Salem Scientific (a.k.a. Sertech Labs) *November 1987: Coors Porcelain (product line includes silicon wafers that can be used in Diodes Inc. products. Also produces high-performance diodes used in automobiles and microwave equipment.) *January 1988:Surface Mounted Technology (80%) *January 1988: General Microcircuits, divested in January 1998 *June 1989: Varo Quality Semiconductor

1990s acquisitions

*July 1992: Unitrode (semiconductor Product Division) *October 1996: SGS Thomson's Radio Frequency Semiconductor (High-reliability Products) *October 1996: National Semiconductor (high reliability monolithic diode arrays) *September 1997: PPC Products *May 1998: BKC Semiconductors, shutdown in November 1999 *January 1998: Xemod (19%) *April 1999: Linfinity Microelectronics division of Symmetricom *June 1999: Narda Microwave Semiconductor

2000s acquisitions

*February 2000: Infinesse (HBT Business Product Group) *August 2001: New England Semiconductor *August 2001: Compensated Devices *April 2006: Advanced Power Technology (APT) *January 2007: PowerDsine Ltd *November 2007: MDT Corporation *January 2008: TSI Microelectronics *October 2008: Electro Module, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Babcock, Inc. *April 2009: the Space Level Power Products business of Spectrum Microwave, Inc. *April 2009: defense and security business of Endwave Corp, divested on May 2, 2016, to Mercury Systems. *June 2009: Nexsem

2010s acquisitions

*April 2010: White Electronic Designs Corp divested on May 2, 2016, to Mercury Systems. *September 2010: VT Silicon *September 2010: Arxan Technologies, Defense Systems, Inc.,"Profile:Microsemi Corporation (MSCC.0)"
(Reuters profile) - Retrieved 2010-07-11 divested on May 2, 2016, to Mercury Systems. *November 2010: Actel Corp. *May 2011: AML Communications, divested on May 2, 2016, to Mercury Systems. *June 2011: Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc. *July 2011: ASIC Advantage, Inc. *October 2011:

Zarlink Zarlink Semiconductor (acquired by Microsemi in October 2011, itself acquired by Microchip Technology, Microchip in March 2018) was a fabless semiconductor company specializing in the design and manufacture of communication and medical semicondu ...

Semiconductor, Inc. *January 2012: timing, synchronization, and synthesis business of

Maxim Integrated Products Maxim Integrated, a subsidiary of Analog Devices, designs, manufactures, and sells analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for the automotive, industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. Maxim's product portfolio includes p ...

*October 2013: Symmetricom, Inc. *July 2014: Mingoa *September 2014: Centellax *March 2015:

Vitesse Semiconductor Vitesse Semiconductor was a fabless American semiconductor company based in Camarillo, California, which developed high-performance Ethernet integrated circuits solutions for Carrier, Enterprise networks. On March 18, 2015 Microsemi Corporation ...

Corp. *November 2015:

for $2.5 Billio

Divested the Broadband Wireless Division to

Maxlinear MaxLinear is an American hardware company. Founded in 2003, it provides highly integrated radio-frequency (RF) analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products for broadband communications applications. It is a New York Stock Exchange-traded comp ...

in April 2016. *June 2017: Phonon *November 2017: Vectron

Awards

* Internet Telephony Product of the Year Awards 2008 by TMCnet.com for PD-7000G Series of PoE Midspans *TMC Labs Innovation Award 2009 for PD-9000G family of PoE Midspans *SOLAR Industry Award 2010, for LX2400 IDEALSolar (Solar Bypass IC) *Best Delivery Support Award 2011,

ZTE Corporation 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, opt ...

*Product of the Year Award 2011, Electronic Products, for SmartFusion (Mixed Signal FPGAs) *Editor's Choice 2012, Military Embedded Systems Magazine *Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2013, ITsAP Award *Innovation Award 2013, EDN China for SmartFusion2 *Innovative Product/Technology 2013, OC Tech Alliance, for SmartFusion2 (SoC FPGA) *CFO of the Year 2013, Business Journal and CalCPA *Renewable Energy Design Award 2014, Elektra Awards,

Electronics Weekly ''Electronics Weekly'' is a weekly trade journal for electronics professionals which was first published by Reed Business Information on 7 September 1960. It was the first British Electronics newspaper and its founding editor was Cyril C. Gee who ...

, for DC-powered PoE Midspan Injector (solar powered) *Outstanding CEO in Technology 2014, OC Tech Alliance *DesignVision Award 2014, DesignCon *European Commission Innovation Award 2014,

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, for SOI-HITS Research Project (Smart Silicon-on-Insulator Sensing Systems Operating at High Temperature) *Cryptography Research DPA Logo Certification, for FPGA/

Rambus Rambus Incorporated, founded in 1990, is an American technology company that designs, develops and licenses chip interface technologies and architectures that are used in digital electronics products. The company is well known for inventing RDR ...

*Public Outstanding Technology Company 2015, OC Tech Alliance *Innovation Award for Best Telecom & Networking Product 2015, EDN China, for SimplyPHY VSC8502 (IC) *Innovative Product/Software Application Award 2016, ESTnet, for MiniSIM *Network Support Solutions ISCWest 2016 Award, Security Industry Association, for PDS-104GO 4-port Outdoor PoE Switch *Favorite Analyst Semiconductor Company Award, 2016 Global Semiconductor Alliance Awards *M2M Network Equipment Technology Company of the Year 2016 by IoT Breakthrough Awards *China Electronic Market (CEM) magazine's 2016 Editor's Choice Award for the Adaptec® Series 8E

adapter *Microsemi's PolarFire FPGA named "Product of the Year" by Electronic Product Magazine for its lowest power, cost-optimized mid-range PolarFire®

field programmable gate array A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware d ...

. *Leading Lights 2018 Outstanding Components Vendor by Light Reading

Controversies

James Peterson education claims

In 2009

Barry Minkow Barry Jay Minkow (born March 22, 1966) is a former American businessman, pastor, and convicted felon. While still in high school, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best (pronounced "Zee Best"), which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and ...

, co-founder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, published a report claiming that James Peterson, Microsemi's president and CEO, had not obtained a bachelor's degree or

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

as he had listed on his biography on STEC Inc.’s regulatory filings (as part of his board position with that company) and on a US government security clearance application. Peterson responded with a public statement saying he "categorically" denied the reports. The next day, the registrar of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

advised that they had double-checked and had no records of Peterson ever having obtained any degrees. An independent inquiry was made on behalf of the board by the law firm

Munger, Tolles & Olson Munger, Tolles, & Olson LLP (MTO) is a Californian law firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Charles Munger founded the firm in 1962 along with six other attorneys. Legal practice Munger, Tolles & Olson is know ...

, which confirmed that in fact Peterson had not earned either degree. As a penalty for misrepresenting his academic credentials, Peterson paid Microsemi a fine and forwent his 2008 bonus.

Backdoor

In 2012, a

backdoor A back door is a door in the rear of a building. Back door may also refer to: Arts and media * Back Door (jazz trio), a British group * Porta dos Fundos (literally “Back Door” in Portuguese) Brazilian comedy YouTube channel. * Works so titl ...

was found in Microsemi's ProASIC3.

Offices

Microsemi Microchip Building Garden Grove California 2021

Microsemi was headquartered in

and had offices in California (

Camarillo Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...

Cupertino Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 57,8 ...

, Garden Grove,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, San Jose, Santa Clara,

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

);

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

;

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

; Beverly,

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, and Lowell, Massachusetts;

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: *Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...

and

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

; Austin and

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

;

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada;

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, China;

Herlev Herlev is a suburb about 9 km northwest of Copenhagen city centre. It is the site of the municipal council of Herlev Municipality, Denmark. Sports Herlev is the hometown of former Vancouver Canuck Jannik Hansen. Herlev is known for its ...

, Denmark;

Bruges, Belgium Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

; Ennis, Ireland;

Hod HaSharon Hod HaSharon ( he, הוֹד הַשָּׁרוֹן, lit. "Splendor of the Sharon plain") is a city in the Central District of Israel. The city is located approximately east of the Mediterranean coastline, south of Kfar Saba, southeast of Raanana, ...

, Israel;

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and

Cabuyao Cabuyao, officially the City of Cabuyao ( fil, Lungsod ng Cabuyao), is a 1st class component city in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 355,330 people. It used to be known as the "riche ...

, Philippines; Caldicot, United Kingdom; and

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, India. This list does not include properties acquired together with

References

External links

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