MStar Semiconductor
Encyclopedia
MStar Semiconductor, Inc. (晨星半導體股份有限公司) is a fabless semiconductor company
specializing in mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies, based in Hsinchu Hsien, Taiwan
. MStar makes stuff for multimedia
and wireless communications, in the form of display ICs and mixed-mode (i.e. combining analog and digital functions) ASIC
/IPs, in addition to chip sets for GSM mobile handsets. MStar employs approx. 1300 in more than 10 branches worldwide. The company's revenue was around USD 1067 million in 2010. The growth has been substantial, their revenue in 2005 was USD 175 million. MStar is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the code 3697.
MStar is often referred as "Little-M" in Chinese community, as a contrary part of the bigger company "Big-M", MediaTek
.
MStar was a spin-off, 2-1 stock split, from System General Technology in May 2002, where the power IC product line stayed in System General Technology while the employees with the display and RFID product lines transferred to the new spin-off. After the spin-off, an 1-2 stock swap was taken to exchange the two companies back to their corresponding shareholders.
Chairman of MStar is Wayne Liang (梁公偉), while Steve Yang (楊偉毅) is president and co-founder.
In 2004, involved in a court case where in a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC), MStar Semiconductor were found guilty over infringing on a patent held by Genesis Microchip
for a method to improve images on liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors and flat screen TVs.
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...
specializing in mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies, based in Hsinchu Hsien, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. MStar makes stuff for multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
and wireless communications, in the form of display ICs and mixed-mode (i.e. combining analog and digital functions) ASIC
ASIC
ASIC may refer to:* Application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit developed for a particular use, as opposed to a customised general-purpose device.* ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC...
/IPs, in addition to chip sets for GSM mobile handsets. MStar employs approx. 1300 in more than 10 branches worldwide. The company's revenue was around USD 1067 million in 2010. The growth has been substantial, their revenue in 2005 was USD 175 million. MStar is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the code 3697.
MStar is often referred as "Little-M" in Chinese community, as a contrary part of the bigger company "Big-M", MediaTek
MediaTek
MediaTek Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company, designing and selling components for wireless communication, optical storage, GPS, high-definition digital TV and DVD products. The company was founded on May 28, 1997...
.
MStar was a spin-off, 2-1 stock split, from System General Technology in May 2002, where the power IC product line stayed in System General Technology while the employees with the display and RFID product lines transferred to the new spin-off. After the spin-off, an 1-2 stock swap was taken to exchange the two companies back to their corresponding shareholders.
Chairman of MStar is Wayne Liang (梁公偉), while Steve Yang (楊偉毅) is president and co-founder.
In 2004, involved in a court case where in a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC), MStar Semiconductor were found guilty over infringing on a patent held by Genesis Microchip
Genesis Microchip
Genesis Microchip Inc. is a leading edge world wide supplier of integrated circuits for video processors in flat panel LCD TVs and Monitors. Founded in 1987 by Paul Russo in Markham, Ontario, Canada and it became a public company in 1998 and now employs over 563 people worldwide...
for a method to improve images on liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors and flat screen TVs.