Cambridge Semiconductor Limited (CamSemi) is a

fabless Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclu ...

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. ...

business based in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

that was acquired by US-based competitor Power Integrations Inc., in January 2015. The company specializes in

power management Power management is a feature of some electrical appliances, especially copiers, computers, computer CPUs, computer GPUs and computer peripherals such as monitors and printers, that turns off the power or switches the system to a low-power st ...

integrated circuits 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 ...

and was spun out of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in August 2000 with seed investment from the Cambridge University Challenge Fund, as a commercial venture arising out of the research conducted by Professors Gehan Amarantunga and Florin Udrea at the

Cambridge University Engineering Department The University of Cambridge Department of Engineering is the largest department at the University of Cambridge and one of the leading centres of engineering in the world. The department's aim is to address the world's most pressing challenges wit ...

. CamSemi is developing a range of new ICs for use in power conversion products such as mains power supplies and lighting. The company’s products are enabling

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 ...

manufacturers to develop low cost products that comply with

Energy Star Energy Star (trademarked ''ENERGY STAR'') is a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that promotes energy efficiency. The program provides information on the energy consumption of pr ...

, the European code of conduct and related energy-efficiency regulations. All CamSemi products are based on a proprietary portfolio of technologies and topologies including advanced control architectures, RDFC and PowerBrane. The company’s venture capital investors included

DFJ Esprit Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growt ...

, Scottish Equity Partners and cleantech investors

The Carbon Trust The Carbon Trust was developed and launched in 1999-2001 as part of the development of the Climate Change Levy (CCL), a tax on business energy use that still operates today. The Carbon Trust was originally funded by around £50m of tax revenue ge ...

and NES Partners.

Launched products

*C2470 mixed signal controllers and RDFC (Resonant Discontinuous Forward Converter) topology for switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) *C2140, C2150, C2183 and C2283 primary side sensing (PSS) flyback controllers for SMPS *C2160 and C2170 PSS flyback controller families targeting 5 star-rated mobile phone chargers with <30 mW no-load *C5183 PSS flyback controller with active start-up for SMPS *C3120, C3183 and C3682 LED drivers ICs for

solid-state lighting Solid-state lighting (SSL) is a type of lighting that uses semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, pl ...

Development milestones

*2002 CamSemi secured series A funding led by 3i to raise $6.1 million. *2004 Announced PowerBrane, a new technology to integrate IGBTs and controllers onto the same die. *2007 Launched RDFC controller family
Company announcement
*Opened sales office and application design centre in Taiwan. *2008 Closed series C funding to raise $34 million; introduced first primary side sensing controllers and named ‘Start up of the year’ by National Microelectronics Institut
Company announcement
*2009 Named as ‘University Spin-out of the Year’ in New Energy Awards
Company announcement
* Launched C2160 family of PSS controllers to help manufacturers develop power supplies with <30 mW no load power *2011 Awarded ‘Business Weekly’s East of England International Trade Award’
Company announcement
*2012 Listed in 29th position in '2012 Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100' report. Als
Company announcement
*2013 Awarded NMI 'Low Power Design Innovation' award for C2172 PSS controller with features to reduce no load power consumption.Kate Sweeney "CamSemi innovation is rewarded" Business Weekly website
Checked 29 Nov 2013. Als
Company announcement

References

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External links

CamSemi
Fabless semiconductor companies Companies based in Cambridge 3i Group companies Semiconductor companies of the United Kingdom