Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American

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. ...

manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American 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 public companies, Motorol ...

in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedded and communications markets. It was bought by a private investor group in 2006, and subsequently merged into NXP Semiconductors in 2015.

History

As of 2003, Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector earned US$5.0

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i. ...

in semiconductor sales in 2002 (out of US$27 billion sales for all of Motorola). Motorola announced that their semiconductor division would be divested on October 6, 2003, to create Freescale. Freescale completed its

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 investme ...

(IPO) on July 16, 2004, at a price of US$13. In its announcement, it estimated the stock price to be US$17.50- 19.50 but following a cooling of the market towards tech stocks, it lowered its price to US$13. Existing shareholders of Motorola stock received 0.110415 shares of Freescale stock for every share of Motorola stock as a dividend which was distributed on December 2, 2004.

Buyout

On September 15, 2006, Freescale agreed to accept a

buyout In finance, a buyout is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity of a company, or a majority share of the stock of the company is acquired. The acquiror thereby "buys out" the present equity holders of the target company. A buyout ...

for the sum of $17.6 billion ($40 per share) by a consortium led by the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

. Share prices of $13 at the July 2004 IPO had risen to $39.35 in afterhours trading that Friday when the news, rumored that week, broke. A special shareholders meeting on November 13, 2006, voted to accept the buyout offer. The purchase, which closed on December 1, 2006, is reportedly the largest private buyout of a technology company and one of the ten largest buyouts of all time. ---- Freescale filed to go public again on February 11, 2011, and completed its IPO on May 26, 2011. Freescale was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FSL. At the time of the IPO, the company had $7.6 billion in outstanding debt on its books, and the company was investigated for misconduct related to this IPO. On March 8, 2014, Freescale announced that 20 of its employees were lost aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Products

Automotive

MSG (Micro-controller Solutions Group) is the largest business unit within Freescale and is currently the largest semiconductor supplier to the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...

. Modern cars use electronics to manage the engine for peak performance and to reduce emissions, and Freescale is the largest supplier of engine system microcontrollers in the world. Automotive safety systems such as anti-lock brakes and airbags also use microcontrollers and

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

power management circuits from Freescale. Freescale also produces a range of integrated sensor products such as

accelerometer An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acc ...

s and pressure sensors. Freescale's SMARTMOS analog portfolio provides power actuation and multiple switch detect interface family ICs and system basis chips for hybrid vehicles. In November 2008 Freescale announced that the company would collaborate with

McLaren Electronic Systems McLaren Applied Limited is a British technology company that works in conjunction with companies such as GSK, NHS and more. Its electronic division, McLaren Electronics, manufactures parts such as engine temperature and pressure sensors for F ...

to further develop its KERS system for McLaren's

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

car from 2010 onwards. Both parties believed this collaboration would improve McLaren's KERS system and help the system filter down to road car technology.

Other business units

Besides MSG business group, Freescale other major semiconductor businesses are the NMG (Networking and Multimedia Group) as well as RASG (RF, Analog and Sensors Group). Freescale, under the guidance of IBM, had also been a source of PowerPC microprocessors (ICs) for Apple Computer's PowerBooks and Mac mini products until the

Mac transition to Intel processors Apple transitioned the CPUs of their Mac and Xserve computers from PowerPC to the x86 architecture from Intel. The change was announced at the 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said Apple would g ...

in 2006. They joined Power.org in 2006 as a founding member to develop and promote the use of Power Architecture. DragonBall is a low power derivation of the earlier

Motorola 68000 family The Motorola 68000 series (also known as 680x0, m68000, m68k, or 68k) is a family of 32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in personal computers and workstations and ...

microprocessors. Freescale also has a portfolio of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) products based on StarCore Technology. Freescale's DSPs are being used in Broadband Wireless,

Voice Over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

and video infrastructure systems.

Litigation

Freescale was sued by

Marvell Semiconductor Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,000 employees as of 2021, with over 10,00 ...

for infringing seven patents. The case was settled in 2015. Freescale lost a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Tessera Corporation and was forced to pay an undisclosed amount as part of the settlement.

Merger

A merger agreement with NXP Semiconductors was announced in March 2015, to form a billion company. The acquisition closed on December 7, 2015.

References

External links

2015 Archive of Corporate website
{{Authority control The Blackstone Group companies Freescale Semiconductor Motorola American companies established in 2004 Electronics companies established in 2004 Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas Auto parts suppliers NXP Semiconductors Semiconductor companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Texas Corporate spin-offs 2015 mergers and acquisitions