Silicon Laboratories, Inc. (Silicon Labs) is a fabless global technology company that designs and manufactures

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way ...

s, other silicon devices and

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

, which it sells to electronics design engineers and

manufacturers Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

(IoT) infrastructure worldwide. It is headquartered in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas, United States. The company focuses on

microcontroller A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programmabl ...

s (MCUs) and wireless system on chips (SoCs) and modules. The company also produces software stacks including

firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...

libraries and protocol-based software, and a free software development platform called Simplicity Studio. Silicon Labs was founded in 1996 and released its first product, an updated

DAA Daa is an administrative ward in the Karatu district of the Arusha Region of Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great ...

design that enabled manufacturers to reduce the size and cost of a modem, two years later. During its first three years, the company focused on RF and

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 MOSF ...

integration, and developed the world's first CMOS RF

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

for mobile phones which was released in 1999. Following the appointment of Tyson Tuttle as the CEO in 2012, Silicon Labs has increasingly focused on developing technologies for the IoT market, which in 2019 accounted for more than 50 percent of the company's revenue, but in 2020 had increased to about 58 percent. Silicon Labs direct access arrangement (DAA) IC

Silicon Labs direct access arrangement (DAA) IC

In August 2019, Silicon Labs had more than 1,770 patents worldwide issued or pending.

Company history

Silicon Labs was founded by Crystal Semiconductor (now owned by Cirrus Logic Inc.) alumni Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott in 1996. It became a publicly traded company in 2000. The first product, an updated

design, was released in the market in 1998. It cost significantly less than traditional DAAs and used less space compared to established products, which made it an instant success, taking the company's sales from $5.6 million in 1998 to nearly $47 million in 1999. During its early years, the company focused on developing an improved RF synthesizer for mobile phones that would cost less and take up less space. It introduced its first RF Chip in late 1999. Since 2012, Silicon Labs has been increasingly focused on developing technologies for the evolving IoT market. On April 22, 2021, Silicon Labs announced the sale of its infrastructure and automotive business to Skyworks Solutions Inc for $2.75 billion. The deal was closed on July 26, 2021. In July 2021, it was announced that Tyson Tuttle would be stepping down as CEO. In January 2022 former president, Matt Johnson, completed the transition into the CEO position.

Key product launches

* In 1998, released updated

design. * In 1999, launched RF Chip. * In 2001, released first products in its timing portfolio, a family of clock generators designed for high-speed

communication systems A communications system or communication system is a collection of individual telecommunications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interopera ...

. * In 2003, entered the mixed-signal MCU market with analog-intensive high-speed 8-bit MCUs. * In 2004, released its first

crystal oscillator A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal as a frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock ...

family featuring patented digital signal processing phase locked loop (DSPLL) technology. * In 2005, introduced a single-chip FM receiver, which enabled FM radio to be installed in a new range of applications. * In 2006, entered the

automotive electronics Automotive electronics are electronic systems used in vehicles, including engine management, ignition, radio, carputers, telematics, in-car entertainment systems, and others. Ignition, engine and transmission electronics are also found in truc ...

market with the launch of an integrated MCU family. * In 2007, launched industry's first single-port

PoE Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...

interface with integrated DC-DC controller. * In 2008, released industry's smallest fully integrated automotive AM/FM radio receiver IC. * In 2009, entered the human interface market with a portfolio of fast-response touch, proximity and ambient light sensor devices. * In 2010, introduced industry's first single-chip multimedia digital TV

demodulator Demodulation is extracting the original information-bearing signal from a carrier wave. A demodulator is an electronic circuit (or computer program in a software-defined radio) that is used to recover the information content from the modulated ...

. * In 2011, released industry's first single-chip hybrid TV receiver. * In 2012, entered the ARM-based 32-bit MCU market with a line of mixed-signal MCUs with USB and non-USB options. * In 2013, introduced the world's first single-chip digital radio receivers for consumer electronics. * In 2014, released the world's first digital ultraviolet index sensors. * In 2015, launched Thread networking technology for connecting devices including wireless sensor networks, thermostats, connected lighting devices and control panels. * In 2016, released Gecko family of multiprotocol wireless SoC devices. * In 2017, launched industry's first wireless clocks that support 4G/ LTE and

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 1 ...

. * In 2018, launched

Z-Wave Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for residential and commercial building automation. It is a mesh network using low-energy radio waves to communicate from device to device, allowing for wireless control of smart home de ...

700 hardware/software IoT platform. * In 2019, launched updated version of wireless Gecko web development platform. *In 2021, launched Wi-SUN^® technology *In 2021, announced that Silicon Labs wireless devices support Matter end products

Leadership

*Matt Johnson, Chief Executive Officer * John Hollister, Chief Financial Officer *Daniel Cooley, Chief Technology Officer *Karuna Annavajjala, Chief Information Officer * Serena Townsend, Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer * Megan Lueders, Chief Marketing Officer * Brandon Tolany, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing * Sandeep Kumar, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations * Sharon Hagi, Chief Security Officer * Néstor Ho, Chief Legal Officer, Vice President and Corporate Secretary

Products

Silicon Labs provides semiconductor products for use in a variety of connected devices. The company also provides development kits and software includin
Simplicity Studio
an integrated development environment for IoT connected device applications. 'Silicon Labs' portfolio is built around the Internet of Things (IoT) focus area, primarily focused on home and life and industrial and commercial wireless applications.

Internet of Things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...

* Wireless: **

System-on-Chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memor ...

Mesh Networking A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wit ...

Modules ** Protocols supported include: ***

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

*** Proprietary wireless protocols for Sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies ***

Zigbee Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and oth ...

***

for smart home applications *** Thread networking solutions *** Wi-Fi

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, transceiver modules, Xpress modules, stand-alone modules ***Wi-SUN^® * MCUs ** EFM8 8-bit MCUs ** EFM32 32-bit MCUs *

Sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

Security technologies

Silicon Labs’ product portfolio is protected by a range of security measures: Anti-rollback prevention * Protects device by preventing the execution of previous versions of authenticated

that might carry security flaws Cryptographic accelerator Differential Power Analysis (DPA) countermeasures Protected secret key storage

Public Key Infrastructure A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. The purpose of a PKI is to facili ...

* IoT Device Certificate Authority enabling device-to-device or device-to-server identity authentication Secure boot * Secure Boot with Root of Trust and Secure Loader (RTSL) provides additional security for loading initial code to the system microcontroller Secure debug with lock/unlock * Access to

debug port A debug port is a chip-level diagnostic interface (akin to a computer port) included in an integrated circuit to aid design, fabrication, development, bootstrapping, configuration, debugging, and post-sale in-system programming. In general te ...

controlled by a unique lock token generated by signing a revocable unique identifier with a customer generated private key Secure link * Encrypting the link between a host processor and radio transceiver or network co-processor (NCP) Secure programming at manufacturing Secure Vault * Integrated hardware and software security technology Features include: ** Secure device identity ** Secure key management and storage ** Advanced tamper detection

True Random Number Generator In computing, a hardware random number generator (HRNG) or true random number generator (TRNG) is a device that generates random numbers from a physical process, rather than by means of an algorithm. Such devices are often based on microscopi ...

Protocols

Silicon Labs technologies support seven wireless protocols.

Bluetooth software enables developers to utilize Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth 5.1, Bluetooth 5.2, and Bluetooth mesh. Bluetooth SDK can be used to create standalone Bluetooth applications for Wireless Gecko SoCs or modules, or network co-processor (NCP) applications. Products include: * Bluetooth SoCs * Certified Bluetooth modules * Software Proprietary wireless protocols Devices cover sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies, delivering ultra-low power, long range, up to 20dBm output power and different modulation schemes for major frequency bands. Products include: *

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 *

Multi-band In telecommunications, a multi-band device (including (2) dual-band, (3) tri-band, (4) quad-band and (5) penta-band devices) is a communication device (especially a mobile phone) that supports multiple radio frequency bands. All devices which ha ...

wireless SoCs for IoT applications * Wireless MCPs * RF synthesizers * Dynamic Multi-protocol (DMP) for smartphone connectivity in long-range solutions * SDKs for accelerating

proprietary protocol In telecommunications, a proprietary protocol is a communications protocol owned by a single organization or individual. Intellectual property rights and enforcement Ownership by a single organization gives the owner the ability to place restric ...

development Thread Technologies that enabling IP connectivity through self-healing

mesh A mesh is a barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible or ductile materials. A mesh is similar to a web or a net in that it has many attached or woven strands. Types * A plastic mesh may be extruded, oriented, exp ...

features, native

IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. I ...

based connectivity and different security options. Products include: * Software stacks * Development tools * Modules * SoCs * Reference designs

Software stacks and development tools for Zigbee applications, including Mesh Networking SoCs and modules.

Modules and SoCs for applications in sectors including smart home, hospitality and MDUs, where sensors and battery-operated devices require long range and low power.

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 waves ...

Wi-Fi SoCs and modules designed for applications requiring low power and good RF performance, such as IoT. Products include: * Wi-Fi transceivers * Transceiver modules * Xpress modules * Stand-alone modules Wi-SUN^® Wi-SUN (Wireless Smart Ubiquitous Network) is a field area network (FAN) to enable long-distance connectivity (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/wisun-new-wireless-standard-rivaling-lorawan-nb-iot-smart-cities/). The Wi-SUN technology aims to simplify LPWAN deployment and enable secure wireless connectivity in applications including

advanced metering infrastructure A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption beh ...

(AMI), street lighting networks, asset management, and parking, air quality, and waste management sensors. Matter Matter is a global IoT connectivity standard that builds on top of existing IP-connectivity protocols to enable cross-platform IoT communication, encompassing end products, mobile applications, and cloud services. Silicon Labs wireless devices are available for the development of Matter end products that support Thread, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth protocols.

Industry associations

Silicon Labs is a founding member of both the

ZigBee Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and oth ...

Alliance and the Thread Group, and is on the Board of Directors at the Wi-SUN Alliance. The company is also a member of the

Bluetooth Special Interest Group The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) is the standards organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers. The SIG is a not-for-profit ...

Wi-Fi Alliance The Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that owns the Wi-Fi trademark. Manufacturers may use the trademark to brand products certified for Wi-Fi interoperability. History Early 802.11 products suffered from interoperability problems be ...

, Z-Wave Alliance and a Gold member of the Open Connectivity Foundation and the RISC-V Foundation.

Acquisitions

* Krypton Isolation Inc. (2000) * Cygnal Integrated Products (2003) * Silicon Magike (2005) * Silembia (2006) * Integration Associates (2008) * Silicon Clocks and ChipSensors (2010) * SpectraLinear (2011) * Ember Corporation (2012) * Energy Micro (2013) * Touchstone Semiconductor (2014) * Bluegiga and Telegesis(2015) * Micrium (2016) * Zentri (2017) *

, acquired from Sigma Designs (2018) * IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) software and module assets from Qulsar (2019) *

Redpine Signals Redpine Signals is a fabless semiconductor company that started its operation in 2001. The company makes chipsets and system-level products for wireless networks. It serves the Internet of Things and wireless embedded systems market, enabling all ...

’ connectivity business (2020)

Finances

For the fiscal year 2020, Silicon Labs reported GAAP earnings of $12.5 million with an annual revenue of $886 million. Its market capitalization was valued at $6.02 billion in February 2021.

Locations

Silicon Labs is headquartered in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, with regional offices in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and San Jose,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The company has also corporate offices in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

;

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

;

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

;

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

;

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. It has 15 sales offices across the world. These include

and San Jose in the US;

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

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 provi ...

and

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

;

Montigny-le-Bretonneux Montigny-le-Bretonneux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Saint-Quentin-en-Yve ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

;

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

;

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

;

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

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 n ...

;

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

;

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

; and

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Camb ...

, the UK. Silicon Labs has a wireless development center in

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, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em Fabless semiconductor companies Semiconductor companies of the United States Electronics companies established in 1996 American companies established in 1996 Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas Companies listed on the Nasdaq