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Freescale Semiconductor

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Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSE: FSL
IndustrySemiconductor
FoundedSpin-off from Motorola in 2004
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
USA
Key people
Gregg Lowe (CEO)
Geoff Lees (Microcontrollers)
Tom Deitrich (Digi. Networking)
Bob Conrad (AutomotiveMCU)
James Bates (Analog&Sensor)
Ritu Favre (RF)
David Reed (Manufacturing)
Alan Campbell (CFO)
Henri Richard (CSMO) See all executives
RevenueIncrease$4.57 billion USD (2011)[1]
Increase$274 million USD (2011)[1]
Decrease$410 million USD (2011)[1]
Number of employees
16,500 (2012)
WebsiteFreescale.com
Freescale Semiconductor, Herzliya Pituah, Israel

Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. produces and designs embedded hardware, with 17 billion semiconductor chips in use around the world. The company focuses on the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets with its product portfolio including microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, digital signal controllers, sensors, RF power ICs and power management ICs. The company also holds an extensive patent portfolio, including approximately 6,100 patent families. In addition, the company offers software and development tools to support product development.

The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas with design, research and development, manufacturing and sales operations in more than 20 countries.

Freescale is currently ranked 18th of the top 20 semiconductor sales leaders, and their −21% growth rate ranks them last in this group.[2]

Competitors

Freescale competes with Texas Instruments, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Microchip, NXP, MIPS, NEC, AMD, Analog Devices, AppliedMicro, Qualcomm, ST Microelectronics, Renesas, Atmel, Linear Technology, Infineon, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp, Epson, and a host of other similar silicon vendors. [3]

History

Freescale was one of the first semiconductor companies in the world, having started as a division of Motorola in Phoenix, Arizona in 1948[4] and then created under the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. In 1955, a Motorola transistor for car radios was the world’s first commercial high-power transistor. It was also Motorola’s first mass-produced semiconductor.

In the 1960s, one of the U. S. space program's goals was to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. In 1968, the NASA began manned Apollo flights that led to the first lunar landing in July 1969. Apollo 11 was particularly significant for hundreds of employees involved in designing, testing and producing its electronics. A division of Motorola, which became Freescale Semiconductor, supplied thousands of semiconductor devices, ground-based tracking and checkout equipment, and 12 on-board tracking and communications units. An "up-data link" in the Apollo's command module received signals from Earth to relay to other on-board systems. A transponder received and transmitted voice and television signals and scientific data.[5]

Also that year, Motorola’s technologies were used to introduce the first two-way mobile radio with a fully transistorized power supply and receiver for cars.[6]

Motorola has continued its growth in the networking and communications sector in later years, providing the tools behind the radio transponder that delivered the first words from the moon in 1969, and going on to develop the first prototype of the first analog mobile phone in 1973.[7]

The company’s first microprocessor (MC6800 8-bit) was introduced in 1974, and was used in automotive, computing and video game applications.[8]

Motorola’s next generation 32-bit microprocessor, the MC68000, led the wave of technologies that spurred the computing revolution in 1984, powering devices from Apple, Sun, and Hewlett Packard companies.[9]

In the 1990s, Motorola’s technology was the driving force behind intelligent power switches for anti-lock brake systems, one of the first microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensor for automotive airbags, and Motorola’s MPC5200 microprocessor deployed telematic systems for General Motors’ OnStar systems.[10]

Since then, Freescale has continued to provide the technology behind some consumer, medical, networking and automotive products from microprocessors for the world’s first tubing-free wireless insulin pump,[11] to and automotive microcontrollers for efficient engine design. Freescale’s motion-sensing accelerometer powers the interactivity of the Guitar Hero video games.[12] The number one provider of eReader applications processors worldwide is Freescale.[13]

In 2011, the company launched the industry’s first multimode wireless base station processor family that scales from small to large cells – integrating DSP and communications processor technologies to realize a true "base station-on-chip".[14] In addition, a recent ABI Research market study report states that Freescale owns 60% share of the Radio Frequency (RF) semiconductor device market.

Also in 2011, Freescale announced the company's first magnetometer for location tracking in smart mobile devices.[15] With the partnership of McLaren Electronic Systems, they helped the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicles convert from carburetors to fuel injection starting in 2012.[16][17][18]

Financials

Motorola announced that their semiconductor division would be divested on October 6, 2003 to create Freescale. Freescale completed its IPO on July 16, 2004.

On September 15, 2006, Freescale agreed to a $17.6 billion buyout by a consortium led by Blackstone Group and its co-investors, Carlyle Group, TPG Capital, and Permira.[19] The buyout offer was accepted on November 13, 2006 following a vote by company shareholders. The purchase, which closed on December 1, 2006, was the largest private buyout of a technology company until the Dell buyout of 2013 and is one of the ten largest buyouts of all time. The buyout resulted in a huge $6.6 billion debt burden and accompanying interest payments from which many believe Freescale will never be able to recover [20]

Freescale filed to go public on February 11, 2011 and completed its IPO on May 26, 2011. Freescale is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FSL. Freescale is being investigated for securities fraud in relation to this recent IPO.[21]

During the quarter ending June 30, 2012, Freescale's profits plunged 76% on a year over year basis.[22]

Zune bug

Clock driver software written by Freescale was responsible for the 2008 Zune leap year bug.[23][24]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "2011 Form 10-K, Freescale Semiconductor". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. ^ "Can new CEO be the champion Freescale needs?". Austin American-Statesman. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  3. ^ {url=http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=FSL+Competitors}
  4. ^ http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=CORPORATE_OVERVIEW
  5. ^ [1] Website: Motorola on the Moon
  6. ^ "Motorola: 75 Years of Intelligent Thinking", 2003, page 31
  7. ^ [2] Motorola Timeline, 1969
  8. ^ "Motorola: 75 Years of Intelligent Thinking", 2003, page 42
  9. ^ "Motorola - A Journey Through Time & Technology” pages 75 – 79
  10. ^ [3] Press Release: Freescale Named a General Motors Supplier of the Year, 2006
  11. ^ [4] Website: Omnipod Insulin Management System
  12. ^ [5] "Video: Freescale FTF 08 Guitar Hero Facebook"
  13. ^ [6] Press Release: Freescale Powers Into 2011 as the Market Share Leader in eReaders, 2010
  14. ^ [7] "Press Release: Freescale Introduces Industry’s First Multimode Wireless Base Station Processor Family That Scales Frome Small to Large Cells"
  15. ^ [8] Press Release: Freescale Introduces the First Magnetometer in its Xtrinsic Sensor Portfolio, 2011
  16. ^ NASCAR sets fuel injection for '12 but keeping restrictor plates at USA Today
  17. ^ NASCAR Moves to Fuel Injection, Bosch First Approved Supplier at Auto Service World
  18. ^ Bosch to provide oxygen sensors for fuel injection at NASCAR.com
  19. ^ SORKIN, ANDREW ROSS and FLYNN, LAURIE J. "Blackstone Alliance to Buy Chip Maker for $17.6 Billion." New York Times, September 16, 2006
  20. ^ Freescale Debt (Press release) http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/Business/2012-05-17-PNI0517biz-freescale_ST_U.htm. {{cite press release}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ^ "Holzer Holzer & Fistel, LLC Announces Investigation into Freescale Semiconductor Holdings I, LTD" (Press release). Reuters. October 5, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  22. ^ {cite press|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/Story/Story/?guid={4C753639-10B0-4B8F-AC40-7A0A0AF0DA01}}
  23. ^ http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-01-02/tech/29972126_1_clock-driver-leap-year-30gb-zune
  24. ^ http://blog.makezine.com/2008/12/31/cause-of-zune-leapyear-problem-free/


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