Silicon Labs

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Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Company typePublic
Nasdaq: SLAB
S&P 400 Component
IndustrySemiconductors
Founded1996[1]
Headquarters
Austin, Texas, United States
Key people
Tyson Tuttle (CEO), Nav Sooch (Chairman)
ProductsMicrocontrollers
Sensors
RevenueIncrease US$ 837.5 million (Dec 28, 2019)[2]
Increase US$ 86.6 million (Dec 28, 2019)
Increase US$ 19.2 million (Dec 28, 2019)
Total assetsIncrease US$ 1,674 million (Dec 28, 2019)
Total equityIncrease US$ 1,115 million (Dec 28, 2019)
Number of employees
1,545 (Dec 28, 2019)[3]
Websitewww.silabs.com

Silicon Laboratories, Inc. (Silicon Labs) is a fabless global technology company that designs and manufactures semiconductors, other silicon devices and software, which it sells to electronics design engineers and manufacturers in Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets worldwide.

It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. The company focuses on microcontrollers (MCUs), wireless system on chips (SoCs), timing devices, digital isolation devices, sensors and broadcast devices. The company also produces software stacks including firmware libraries and protocol-based software, and a free software development platform called Simplicity Studio.[4]

Silicon Labs was founded in 1996 and released its first product, an updated DAA design that enabled manufacturers to reduce the size and cost of a modem, two years later.[5] During its first three years, the company focused on RF and CMOS integration[5], and developed the world's first CMOS RF synthesizer for mobile phones which was released in 1999[5]. Following the appointment of Tyson Tuttle as the CEO in 2012[6], Silicon Labs has increasingly focused on developing solutions for the IoT market[7], which accounts for more than 50 percent of the company's revenue (April 2019).[8]

In 1998, Silicon Labs released its first product, an updated Direct Access Arrangement (DAA) design that enabled manufacturers to reduce the size and cost of a modem.

In August 2019, Silicon Labs had more than 1,770 patents worldwide issued or pending.[9]

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.[10] It became a publicly traded company in 2000[10]. The first product, an updated DAA 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[5].

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[5].

Since 2012, Silicon Labs has been increasingly focused on developing solutions for the evolving IoT market.[11]

Key product launches

  • In 1998, released updated DAA design[5].
  • In 1999, launched RF Chip[5].
  • In 2001, released first products in its timing portfolio, a family of clock generators designed for high-speed communication systems.[12]
  • In 2003, entered the mixed-signal MCU market with analog-intensive high-speed 8-bit MCUs.[13]
  • In 2004, released its first crystal oscillator family featuring patented digital phase locked loop (DSPLL) technology.[14]
  • In 2005, introduced a single-chip FM receiver, which enabled FM radio to be installed in a new range of applications.[15]
  • In 2006, entered the automotive electronics market with the launch of an integrated MCU family.[16]
  • In 2007, launched industry's first single-port PoE interface with integrated DC-DC controller.[17]
  • In 2008, released industry's smallest fully integrated automotive AM/FM radio receiver IC.[18]
  • In 2009, entered the human interface market with a portfolio of fast-response touch, proximity and ambient light sensor devices.[19]
  • In 2010, introduced industry's first single-chip multimedia digital TV demodulator.[20]
  • In 2011, released industry's first single-chip hybrid TV receiver.[21]
  • In 2012, entered the ARM-based 32-bit MCU market with a line of mixed-signal MCUs with USB and non-USB options.[22]
  • In 2013, introduced the world's first single-chip digital radio receivers for consumer electronics.[23]
  • In 2014, released the world's first digital ultraviolet index sensors.[24]
  • In 2015, launched Thread networking technology for connecting devices including wireless sensor networks, thermostats, connected lighting devices and control panels [25].
  • In 2016, released Gecko family of multiprotocol wireless SoC devices.[26]
  • In 2017, launched industry's first wireless clocks that support 4G/LTE and Ethernet.[27]
  • In 2018, launched Z-Wave 700 hardware/software IoT platform.[28]
  • In 2019, launched updated version of wireless Gecko web development platform.[29]

Leadership

  • Tyson Tuttle, President and Chief Executive Officer
  • John Hollister, Chief Financial Officer
  • Brandon Tolany, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
  • Alessandro Piovaccari, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technical Officer
  • Daniel Cooley, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer
  • Matt Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IoT Products
  • Mark Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure
  • Megan Lueders, Chief Marketing Officer
  • Sandeep Kumar, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations
  • Sharon Hagi, Chief Security Officer
  • Serena Townsend, Chief People Officer
  • Nestor Ho, Chief Legal Officer, Vice President and Corporate Secretary

Products

Silicon Labs provides semiconductor products for use in a variety of electronic products in applications including connected devices, AM/FM radios and other consumer electronics, networking equipment, test and measurement equipment, industrial monitoring and control, home automation, automotive systems and customer-premises equipment (CPE). The company also provides development kits and software including Simplicity Studio, an integrated development environment for IoT connected device applications.

Silicon Labs’ portfolio is organized around four focus areas: Internet of Things, Infrastructure, Broadcast, and Access.

Internet of Things

Infrastructure

Broadcast

  • Automotive radio
  • TV tuners

Access

Security technologies

Since the appointment of Sharon Hagi as CSO[30], enhancing protection against IoT threats has been at the center of Silicon Labs’ security strategy. The company aims to build the most secure products on the market, while enabling customers to utilize the capabilities of its hardware and software stacks to enhance the security of their solutions.[31]

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 firmware that might carry security flaws

Cryptographic accelerator

Differential Power Analysis (DPA) countermeasures

Protected secret key storage

Public Key Infrastructure

  • 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 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 designed to protect connected products as well as the manufacturer’s brand, design and consumer data.[32] The hardware features are implemented on a wireless SoC, so connected devices can be updated over-the-air (OTA) throughout the product life cycle.[33] The security subsystem including a dedicated core, bus and memory, is separate from the host processor: isolating critical security features, including secure key store management and cryptography, into their own functional areas makes the overall device more secure. The combination of security features offered by Secure Vault is designed to help companies address emerging regulatory measures including GDPR and SB-327[34][35]. Features include:
    • Secure device identity: a secure device identity certificate provided during IC manufacturing for each individual silicon die enables post-deployment security, authenticity and attestation-based health checks. The device certificate guarantees the authenticity of the chip for its lifetime.[36]
    • Secure key management and storage: keys are encrypted and isolated from the application code, with virtually unlimited secure key storage as all keys are encrypted using master encryption generated using a PUF. The power-up signatures are unique to a single device and master key storage is eliminated as keys are created during the power-up phase.[37]
    • Advanced tamper detection: product enclosure tamper resistance and tamper detection of silicon through voltage, frequency and temperature manipulations to protect against glitch attacks. Configurable features enable developers to set up appropriate response actions with interrupts, resets or secret key deletion.[38]

True Random Number Generator

Zentri Device Management Service (DMS)[39]

Industry associations

Silicon Labs is a founding member of both the ZigBee Alliance[40] and the Thread Group.[41] The company is also a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group[42], Wi-Fi Alliance[43], Z-Wave Alliance[44] and a Gold member of the Open Connectivity Foundation[45] and the RISC-V Foundation.[46]

Acquisitions

  • In 2000, Silicon Labs acquired Krypton Isolation Inc.[47]
  • In 2003, Silicon Labs acquired Cygnal Integrated Products.[48]
  • In 2005, Silicon Labs acquired Silicon Magike.[49]
  • In 2006, Silicon Labs acquired Silembia.[50]
  • In 2008, Silicon Labs acquired Integration Associates.[51]
  • In 2010, Silicon Labs acquired Silicon Clocks.[52]
  • In 2010, Silicon Labs acquired ChipSensors.[53]
  • In 2011, Silicon Labs acquired SpectraLinear.[54]
  • In 2012, Silicon Labs acquired Ember Corporation.[55]
  • In 2013, Silicon Labs acquired Energy Micro.[56]
  • In 2014, Silicon Labs acquired the full product portfolio of Touchstone Semiconductor.[57]
  • In 2015, Silicon Labs acquired Bluegiga.[58]
  • In 2015, Silicon Labs acquired Telegesis.[59]
  • In 2016, Silicon Labs acquired Micrium.[60]
  • In 2017, Silicon Labs acquired Zentri.[61]
  • In 2018, Silicon Labs acquired the Z-Wave business from Sigma Designs.[62]
  • In 2019, Silicon Labs acquired IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) software and module assets from Qulsar.[63]
  • In 2020, Silicon Labs acquired Redpine Signals’ connectivity business.[64]

Finances

For the fiscal year 2019, Silicon Labs reported earnings of $19 million with an annual revenue of $838 million, reflecting a 3.5% decrease from fiscal year 2018[9]. Its market capitalization was valued at $3.9 billion in April 2020.[65]

Locations

Silicon Labs is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with regional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; San Jose, California; and Weston, Florida. The company has also corporate offices in Sydney, Australia; Quebec, Canada; Copenhagen, Denmark; Espoo, Finland; Budapest, Hungary; Oslo, Norway; Singapore; and High Wycombe, the UK.

It has 15 sales offices across the world. These include Boston and San Jose in the US; Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan in China; Espoo, Finland; Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France; Munich, Germany; Milan, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Singapore; Taipei, Taiwan; and Camberley, the UK.

References

  1. ^ "Bloomberg Business".
  2. ^ "Silicon Labs 2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  3. ^ "Silicon Labs 2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  4. ^ "The EFM8 Series from Silicon Laboratories: A Powerful New Embedded Development Platform". www.allaboutcircuits.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Arensman, Russ. "Mixed-signal designers find the right mix". EDN. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  6. ^ Leopold, George. "Tuttle replaces Sayiner as CEO at Silicon Labs". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  7. ^ "Silicon Labs Tackles IoT Challenges | Applied Materials". www.appliedmaterials.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  8. ^ Merritt, Rick. "IoT Modules Grow at Silicon Labs". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  9. ^ a b "2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Silicon Labs. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ a b Sopensky, Emily (18 June 2000). "Nav-igating a startup". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "Silicon Labs Tackles IoT Challenges | Applied Materials". www.appliedmaterials.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  12. ^ "Silicon Laboratories Introduces World's Smallest, Most Integrated GSM/GPRS Transceiver". www.semiconductoronline.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  13. ^ Staff, E. D. N. "Silicon Labs Acquires Cygnal for $58M". EDN. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  14. ^ "MEMS/cmos process to replace quartz oscillators?". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  15. ^ "Single-Chip Tuner Puts FM Broadcast Radio Just About Anywhere". Electronic Design. 2005-05-26. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  16. ^ "Silicon Laboratories enters automotive MCU market". Electronic Design. 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  17. ^ "Silicon Labs Introduces Single Port PoE Interface With Integrated DC-DC Controller". PowerPulse.net. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  18. ^ "Silicon Labs : Fully-integrated automotive AM/FM radio receiver IC reduces component count by 40 percent". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  19. ^ Happich, Julien. "Silicon Laboratories combines capacitive and IR proximity sensing". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  20. ^ "Deals, launches and products". Rethink. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  21. ^ "Silicon Labs launches single-chip hybrid TV receiver". Digital TV Europe. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  22. ^ "Precision32 SiM3L1xx MCUs from Silicon Labs enables lowest 32-bit system power". www.electronicspecifier.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  23. ^ Johnson, R. Colin (23 April 2013). "Add radio on-a-chip to any design". EE Times. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ Sourcing, Electronics. "Silicon Labs, Single-Chip Si1132/4x Optical Sensors Track UV Exposure, Ambient Light and Biometrics for Smartphones and Wearable Computing Products". Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  25. ^ Manners, David (15 July 2015). "Si Labs launches Thread". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ Manners, David (28 September 2016). "Si Labs sampling Gecko wireless module with Thread and ZigBee support". Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ^ "Multi-output clock ICs support "4.5G" and Ethernet in wireless infrastructure". eeNews Embedded. 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  28. ^ "Next-gen Z-Wave 700 launches on the Silicon Labs wireless Gecko platform". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  29. ^ "Silicon Lab launches new wireless platform". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  30. ^ "Security executives on the move and in the news | CIO Portal". cioindex.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  31. ^ "Delivering product security". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  32. ^ "StackPath". www.electronicdesign.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  33. ^ "StackPath". www.electronicdesign.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  34. ^ "Bill Text - SB-327 Information privacy: connected devices". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  35. ^ McCarthy, Alex (2020-03-06). "Silicon Labs Secure Vault suite addresses emerging regulations for IoT". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  36. ^ Dahad, Nitin (6 March 2020). "Silicon Labs adds hardware security to wireless SoCs". EE Times. Retrieved 17 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. ^ Emilio, Maurizio Di Paolo (2020-03-23). "EETimes - How PUF Technology is Securing IoT -". EETimes. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  38. ^ "StackPath". www.evaluationengineering.com. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  39. ^ "Understanding post-deployment device management and security". IoT Times. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  40. ^ "Our Members". Zigbee Alliance. 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  41. ^ "Our members". Thread. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  42. ^ "Member Directory". Bluetooth Technology Website. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  43. ^ "Member Companies | Wi-Fi Alliance". www.wi-fi.org. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  44. ^ "Member Companies of the Z-Wave Alliance". Z-Wave Alliance. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  45. ^ "OCF Membership List". Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF). Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  46. ^ "Members at a Glance". RISC-V Foundation. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  47. ^ EETimes (2000-08-10). "EETimes - Silicon Labs, Krypton complete merger -". EETimes. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  48. ^ "Silicon Laboratories Inc. Acquires Cygnal Integrated Products". Power Electronics. 2003-12-16. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  49. ^ "Silicon Labs acquires startup Silicon Magike". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  50. ^ "Silicon Laboratories acquires Silembia". www.electronicspecifier.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  51. ^ LaPedus, Mark. "Silicon Labs buys Integration Associates". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  52. ^ "Silicon Laboratories acquires Silicon Clocks". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  53. ^ "Silicon Laboratories Acquired ChipSensors, Maker Of Innovative Single-chip CMOS Sensors". www.electronicspecifier.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  54. ^ LaPedus, Mark (26 January 2011). "Silicon Labs buys SpectraLinear". EE Times. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  55. ^ Savitz, Eric (15 March 2013). "Silicon Labs To Buy ZigBee Play Ember Corp. For $72 Million". Forbes. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  56. ^ "Silicon Labs acquires Energy Micro". eeNews Europe. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  57. ^ Scouras, Ismini. "Touchstone Semi Sells Assets to Silicon Labs for $1.5M". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  58. ^ Manners, David (2015-02-04). "Silicon Labs buys Bluegiga". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  59. ^ McGrath, Dylan. "Silicon Labs Buys Zigbee Module Vendor Telegesis". EETimes. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  60. ^ "Silicon Labs acquires Micrium in bid to provide complete IoT development solutions". www.embedded-computing.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  61. ^ "Silicon Labs' acquisition of Zentri shows how a semiconductor company can transform itself into a growing IoT company - IHS Technology". technology.ihs.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  62. ^ Elias, Jennifer (23 January 2018). "Sigma Designs to liquidate, lay off hundreds of workers following failed merger". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  63. ^ "Silicon Labs acquires Qulsar's IEEE 1588 software and modules". www.newelectronics.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  64. ^ "Evertiq - Silicon Labs completes acquisition of Redpine Signals' co..." evertiq.com. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  65. ^ "Silicon Laboratories Market Cap 2006-2019 | SLAB". www.macrotrends.net. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
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