ESilicon
Encyclopedia
eSilicon is a fabless semiconductor company
founded in 2000 and based in Sunnyvale, California
. eSilicon designs and manufactures digital CMOS
ASICs
. eSilicon is considered a pioneer of the fabless ASIC model and is the world's largest fabless ASIC supplier.
. In 2002 eSilicon became widely known as the supplier of a key Apple Inc. iPod
ASIC through PortalPlayer
. 2004 revenues reached $91M largely driven by ASICs for the iPod. In 2006 Apple announced that they were changing their iPod ASIC strategy and eSilicon no longer supplies ASICs for the iPod. Following the loss of the iPod business eSilicon diversified its customer base and announced in May 2008 that they were profitable and shipping ASICs to over 50 customers. In January 2008 eSilicon acquired the assets of Swedish based ethernet networking switch supplier SwitchCore AB and announced that they would seek further acquisitions. Rumors of eSilicon preparing to file for an IPO have circulated on and off since 2003.
insertion, package design, product qualification, IP licensing, and manufacturing services for digital CMOS ASICs. eSilicon has announced products in .25 um, .18 um, .13 um, 90 nm, 65 nm, and 40 nm process technologies. Customer ASICs have been announced in a wide range of applications including digital cameras, portable multimedia players, inkjet printers, networking, and high performance computing. In February 2008 it was announced that eSilicon had licensed Avago Technologies
high performance 90 nm and 65 nm SerDes
technology for use in eSilicon's customer's designs.
. Since eSilicon's founding it has had a relationship with TSMC
as its primary foundry partner. eSilicon also outsources all package assembly and test.
Fabless semiconductor company
A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing the fabrication or "fab" of the devices to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry...
founded in 2000 and based in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
. eSilicon designs and manufactures digital CMOS
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
ASICs
ASICS
ASICS is a Japanese athletic equipment company. ASICS produces professional footwear and sports equipment designed for football, running, netball, tennis, badminton, squash, martial arts, cricket, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross-training, volleyball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and for many other...
. eSilicon is considered a pioneer of the fabless ASIC model and is the world's largest fabless ASIC supplier.
Locations
eSilicon's headquarters is in Sunnyvale, California. eSilicon has offices in Allentown, PA, New Providence, NJ, Bucharest, Romania, and Yokohama, Japan.History
Since its founding in 2000 eSilicon has received a total of $86M in venture capitalVenture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
. In 2002 eSilicon became widely known as the supplier of a key Apple Inc. iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
ASIC through PortalPlayer
PortalPlayer
PortalPlayer, founded in 1999, was a fabless semiconductor company that supplied system-on-a-chip semiconductors, firmware and software for personal media players...
. 2004 revenues reached $91M largely driven by ASICs for the iPod. In 2006 Apple announced that they were changing their iPod ASIC strategy and eSilicon no longer supplies ASICs for the iPod. Following the loss of the iPod business eSilicon diversified its customer base and announced in May 2008 that they were profitable and shipping ASICs to over 50 customers. In January 2008 eSilicon acquired the assets of Swedish based ethernet networking switch supplier SwitchCore AB and announced that they would seek further acquisitions. Rumors of eSilicon preparing to file for an IPO have circulated on and off since 2003.
Products
eSilicon provides physical design, design for testDesign For Test
Design for Test is a name for design techniques that add certain testability features to a microelectronic hardware product design. The premise of the added features is that they make it easier to develop and apply manufacturing tests for the designed hardware...
insertion, package design, product qualification, IP licensing, and manufacturing services for digital CMOS ASICs. eSilicon has announced products in .25 um, .18 um, .13 um, 90 nm, 65 nm, and 40 nm process technologies. Customer ASICs have been announced in a wide range of applications including digital cameras, portable multimedia players, inkjet printers, networking, and high performance computing. In February 2008 it was announced that eSilicon had licensed Avago Technologies
Avago Technologies
Avago Technologies is an American company which was earlier the semiconductor products division of HP and later Agilent Technologies, before being spun off into a distinct legal entity. It holds more than 5,000 patents.- Products:...
high performance 90 nm and 65 nm SerDes
SerDes
A Serializer/Deserializer is a pair of functional blocks commonly used in high speed communications to compensate for limited input/output. These blocks convert data between serial data and parallel interfaces in each direction...
technology for use in eSilicon's customer's designs.
Manufacturing
As a fabless company eSilicon outsources all semiconductor manufacturing to merchant foundriesFoundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
. Since eSilicon's founding it has had a relationship with TSMC
TSMC
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
as its primary foundry partner. eSilicon also outsources all package assembly and test.