Intersil: Analog contender or pretender?

''I think (Intersil) is on a list of companies that (could potentially) get acquired by Texas Instruments or someone else,’’ Freedman told EE Times, but the chances of a takeover ''are low’’ right now.

Intersil claims to be world’s sixth largest analog player. But according to Databeans Inc., the company was ranked eighth in the arena last year, with sales of $329 million, down 17 percent over 2008. In the rankings, Intersil was behind TI ($2.436 billion), ADI ($1.69 billion), National ($1.098 billion); Maxim ($1.037 billion); Linear ($894 million); ST ($497 million) and On Semi ($368 million), according to Databeans.

Databeans recently raised its projections for the general purpose analog market, which is expected to go well over $16 billion in 2010, up 29 percent from 2009. In March, the firm said this market was poised to grow 15 percent to reach more than $15 billion in 2010. Last year, the general purpose analog market posted just over $13 billion in sales, down 15 percent from 2008, according to Databeans.

Analog remains a steady market complete with a cast of colorful competitors. For example, Intersil boast a long and complex history. In 1895, Harris Automatic Press Co., a printing press hopeful, was formed. In the 1950s, that company, renamed Harris Corp., expanded into electronics. And in 1967, it acquired Radiation Inc., a manufacturer of space and military electronics located in Florida.

On another front, in 1954, General Electric Co. moved into the semiconductor business with the formation of GE Solid State. Also in 1967, a new and separate chip maker called Intersil was formed by executives from Fairchild Semiconductor in Cupertino, Calif.

Then, in 1980, GE Solid State acquired Intersil. And in 1988, Harris acquired GE Solid State, which included RCA Solid State and Intersil. In 1999, Harris implemented a restructuring program and spun-off its semiconductor business into a new company called Intersil.

Then, in 2000, Intersil filed for an initial public offering (IPO). Needless to say, the chip maker has undergone a series of changes, which has prompted a major question: Who is Intersil?

At times, Intersil has suffered from an identity crisis. Over the years, it has focused on various markets, making it difficult to track the company and its strategy. For example, Intersil was a pioneer in ICs back in the 1960s. As part of Harris, it was once the undisputed leader in wireless LAN chips. (In 2003, Intersil sold these lines to Globespan, which was later bought by Conexant.). In more recent times, Intersil has acquired no less than nine companies.

For years, though, Intersil has been a player in analog. And it moved to expand that focus via acquisition. It acquired op-amp maker Elantec Semiconductor Inc. in 2002, and smart battery and data conversion specialist Xicor Corp. in 2004.

Three years ago, Intersil acquired Planet ATE Inc., a privately-held, fabless semiconductor supplier to the automated test equipment (ATE) market. In 2008, Intersil acquired D2Audio Corp., a supplier of digital audio power amplifiers. In the same year, Intersil acquired Kenet Inc., a supplier of low-power data converters. Also in 2008, Intersil acquired Zilker Labs Inc., a privately-held, fabless semiconductor company. Zilker Labs' so-called Digital-DC technology is a mixed-signal power conversion and management architecture.

Last year, Intersil acquired Rock Semiconductor, a privately-held, fabless semiconductor company that develops integrated power management ICs. Continuing its buying spree, Intersil last year acquired Quellan Inc., a supplier in the design of high-performance analog signal processing integrated circuits.

In March, Intersil acquired Techwell Inc. for approximately $370 million. Techwell is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and sells mixed signal video solutions for the security surveillance and automotive infotainment markets. In 2009, Techwell posted a profit of $3.496 million on sales of $63.174 million.