News & Analysis
Comment
peter.clarke
cjara
Hello Peter do you know where this information was generated? I'm working with ...
EE Times updates ‘Silicon 60’ list of emerging startups
Peter Clarke
11/7/2010 6:48 PM EST
The companies: A-F
Achronix Semiconductor Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) was founded in 2004 and is associated with Cornell University, from which it has licensed patents. In 2008, Achronix introduced FPGAs that operate at clock frequencies up to 1.5 GHz.
www.achronix.com
Adesto Technologies Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was founded by CEO Narbeh Derhacobian in 2006 and is developing a nonvolatile memory based on programmable metallization cell (PMC) technology licensed from Axon Technologies Corp., a spinoff of Arizona State University. The company is backed by Arch Venture Partners and Applied Ventures, among other venture capital companies.
www.adestotech.com
Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC; Shanghai, China), founded in 2004, has been described as the Applied Materials of China. AMEC has introduced its initial tools, unveiled its strategy and disclosed plans to go public. It has also locked horns with Applied Materials in legal disputes.
www.amec-inc.com
*Arveni SA (Cremieux, France), founded in 2007, designs, produces and sells microgenerators for energy harvesting.
www.arveni.fr
AutoESL Design Technologies Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.) is offering a product based on high-level synthesis technology licensed from University of California–Los Angeles. It was founded in 2006.
www.autoESL.com
Avnera Corp. (Beaverton, Ore.) is a fabless developer of analog system chips for consumer electronics, mainly in the audio sector. It was founded in early 2004 and has raised $52 million to date in four rounds of financing from Altien Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Best Buy Capital, DAG Ventures, Intel Capital, Jafco Ventures, Onkyo Corp., Panasonic Venture Group, Polycom Corp. and Redpoint Ventures.
www.avnera.com
Baolab Microsystems SL (Barcelona, Spain) is pioneering the creation of microelectromechanical systems within the back-end-of-line structure of CMOS wafers. It is applying its MEMS technology initially to the field of switching for miniature RF relays inside CMOS, enabling smaller mobile phones. Baolab was founded in July 2003 and is backed by venture capital fund FonsInnocat.
www.baolab.com
Black Sand Technologies Inc. (Austin, Texas) was formed in 2005. The fabless semiconductor company has produced an RF power amplifier in CMOS for 3G communications.
www.blacksand.com
Blue Wonder Communications GmbH (Dresden, Germany) was founded in 2008 and provides LTE intellectual property. The company concluded a funding round in 2009 and claims to already have orders for its technology.
www.bluewondercommunications.com/
Boston Power Inc. (Westborough, Mass.) was founded in 2005 and has made progress in developing longer-lasting, faster-charging lithium-ion batteries.
www.boston-power.com
Cognovo Ltd. (Melbourn, U.K.) was founded in July 2009 by the four founders of TTPCom, a developer of protocol stacks for mobile communications that rose to prominence in the 1990s. Cognovo plans to offer software for licensing to developers of software-defined modems with a business model similar to that of TTPCom but aimed at 4G communications. ARM transferred some personnel and intellectual property to the company and took an equity stake in October 2009.
www.cognovo.com
D2S Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) is a venture-backed company providing software and IP to enable direct-write e-beam lithography for the production of system-on-chip ICs. The company provides a computational design platform to maximize existing e-beam technology to reduce mask costs for both low and high volume applications.
www.direct2silicon.com
*Dockon Inc. (Reno, Nev.) has developed a novel antenna technology that combines electrical and magnetic elements to achieve new levels of efficiency for a range of wireless systems.
www.dockon.com
Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (EPC; El Segundo, Calif.) was founded in November 2007 by three engineers with experience in advanced power management devices. EPC’s CEO, Alex Lidow, is the co-inventor of the HEXFET power MOSFET and, in addition to holding positions in R&D and manufacturing, was the CEO of International Rectifier for 12 years.
www.epc-co.com
Energy Micro A/S (Oslo, Norway), founded by CEO Geir Forre in 2007, develops ARM-based microcontrollers for low-power and battery-operated applications.
www.energymicro.com
Everspin Technologies Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.) was formed as a spinoff of the MRAM activities of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in 2008.
www.everspin.com
*Fresco Logic Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.) was founded in 2008 and has developed a controller chip for the USB 3.0 communication specification.
www.frescologic.com
Next: The companies: G-L
A
Achronix Semiconductor Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) was founded in 2004 and is associated with Cornell University, from which it has licensed patents. In 2008, Achronix introduced FPGAs that operate at clock frequencies up to 1.5 GHz.
www.achronix.com
Adesto Technologies Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was founded by CEO Narbeh Derhacobian in 2006 and is developing a nonvolatile memory based on programmable metallization cell (PMC) technology licensed from Axon Technologies Corp., a spinoff of Arizona State University. The company is backed by Arch Venture Partners and Applied Ventures, among other venture capital companies.
www.adestotech.com
Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC; Shanghai, China), founded in 2004, has been described as the Applied Materials of China. AMEC has introduced its initial tools, unveiled its strategy and disclosed plans to go public. It has also locked horns with Applied Materials in legal disputes.
www.amec-inc.com
*Arveni SA (Cremieux, France), founded in 2007, designs, produces and sells microgenerators for energy harvesting.
www.arveni.fr
AutoESL Design Technologies Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.) is offering a product based on high-level synthesis technology licensed from University of California–Los Angeles. It was founded in 2006.
www.autoESL.com
Avnera Corp. (Beaverton, Ore.) is a fabless developer of analog system chips for consumer electronics, mainly in the audio sector. It was founded in early 2004 and has raised $52 million to date in four rounds of financing from Altien Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Best Buy Capital, DAG Ventures, Intel Capital, Jafco Ventures, Onkyo Corp., Panasonic Venture Group, Polycom Corp. and Redpoint Ventures.
www.avnera.com
B
Baolab Microsystems SL (Barcelona, Spain) is pioneering the creation of microelectromechanical systems within the back-end-of-line structure of CMOS wafers. It is applying its MEMS technology initially to the field of switching for miniature RF relays inside CMOS, enabling smaller mobile phones. Baolab was founded in July 2003 and is backed by venture capital fund FonsInnocat.
www.baolab.com
Black Sand Technologies Inc. (Austin, Texas) was formed in 2005. The fabless semiconductor company has produced an RF power amplifier in CMOS for 3G communications.
www.blacksand.com
Blue Wonder Communications GmbH (Dresden, Germany) was founded in 2008 and provides LTE intellectual property. The company concluded a funding round in 2009 and claims to already have orders for its technology.
www.bluewondercommunications.com/
Boston Power Inc. (Westborough, Mass.) was founded in 2005 and has made progress in developing longer-lasting, faster-charging lithium-ion batteries.
www.boston-power.com
C
Cognovo Ltd. (Melbourn, U.K.) was founded in July 2009 by the four founders of TTPCom, a developer of protocol stacks for mobile communications that rose to prominence in the 1990s. Cognovo plans to offer software for licensing to developers of software-defined modems with a business model similar to that of TTPCom but aimed at 4G communications. ARM transferred some personnel and intellectual property to the company and took an equity stake in October 2009.
www.cognovo.com
D
D2S Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) is a venture-backed company providing software and IP to enable direct-write e-beam lithography for the production of system-on-chip ICs. The company provides a computational design platform to maximize existing e-beam technology to reduce mask costs for both low and high volume applications.
www.direct2silicon.com
*Dockon Inc. (Reno, Nev.) has developed a novel antenna technology that combines electrical and magnetic elements to achieve new levels of efficiency for a range of wireless systems.
www.dockon.com
E
Efficient Power Conversion Corp. (EPC; El Segundo, Calif.) was founded in November 2007 by three engineers with experience in advanced power management devices. EPC’s CEO, Alex Lidow, is the co-inventor of the HEXFET power MOSFET and, in addition to holding positions in R&D and manufacturing, was the CEO of International Rectifier for 12 years.
www.epc-co.com
Energy Micro A/S (Oslo, Norway), founded by CEO Geir Forre in 2007, develops ARM-based microcontrollers for low-power and battery-operated applications.
www.energymicro.com
Everspin Technologies Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.) was formed as a spinoff of the MRAM activities of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in 2008.
www.everspin.com
F
*Fresco Logic Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.) was founded in 2008 and has developed a controller chip for the USB 3.0 communication specification.
www.frescologic.com
Next: The companies: G-L
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
Camsols
11/9/2010 5:08 AM EST
IMHO, e-con Systems Inc., is worth a mention in this article. e-con Systems is an embedded product development Services Company focused on end-end product development. With expertise in mobile processors such has XScale PXA270, PXA320, AU1250, i.MX, OMAP35x etc., e-con helps customers on development of products such as digital picture frames, point of sale terminals, hand-held single board computers etc., using its product engineering services. Besides this, e-con provides system integration services such as Windows Embedded CE or Linux BSP porting solutions and device driver development.
Sign in to Reply
goafrit
11/9/2010 8:20 AM EST
This is a good list to notice future acquisition targets. Good job fro bringing these firms to the public knowledge.
Sign in to Reply
docdivakar
11/17/2010 2:39 PM EST
Nice list... interesting Achronix is at the top of A-list. They have been in the news lately with their decision to use Intel's fab business.
The supply chain flow identified for Achronix's Speedster22i is all within the US locations end-to-end:
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/fpga-pld-products/4210286/Achronix-s-next-gen-FPGAs-in-Intel-s-22nm-process
This may bode well for military and aerospace applications which require “on shore” silicon but is that volume big enough for sustaining Achronix? The supply chain solution has to change quickly to lower cost destinations if Achronix has to compete in the consumer products market.
Dr. MP Divakar
Sign in to Reply
Mark Wehrmeister
11/22/2010 1:36 PM EST
It's great to see two Portland, Oregon area companies on this list - Avnera Corporation and Fresco Logic. The "Silicon Forest" is alive and well thanks to companies like this.
Sign in to Reply
NimrodO0l1
10/10/2011 6:09 PM EDT
I looked at the site and checked into jobs.
Sadly, all the technical jobs are in Taiwan or mainland China.
Much of the Silicon Forest has been chopped into little chips and shipped to Asia.
Sign in to Reply
Hillol
11/25/2010 5:20 AM EST
AgO Analog and RF Circuit Optimization Company
EE Times: www.bit.ly/ago-eepress
www.ago-inc.com
Sign in to Reply
peter.clarke
11/26/2010 7:22 AM EST
@Hillol
Thanks for the reference to your company
Sign in to Reply
Dr DSP
11/26/2010 7:47 PM EST
Is there a summary of the companies that were on the previous list and folded? How many are there?
Sign in to Reply
garydpdx
1/24/2011 12:18 PM EST
Maybe the best that one can hope for is a dump of all companies that have ever appeared on the list and let readers figure that out from their own research. Then you would still have to contend with name changes (e.g., Silicon Forest Labs became Lighthouse Technologies before its acquisition by Mentor Graphics, where the inFact verification technology originated) and relaunches (e.g., Space Codesign in Montreal; disclaimer: I am involved in the 2.0 version of that firm). By the way, I'm not sure if Lighthouse ever appeared in earlier editions of this EE Times list but I hope that Space will, next time!
Sign in to Reply
adam88
12/16/2010 12:19 PM EST
Heard a rumor that SiBeam CEO stepped down (secretly). Not sure if it's true or not.
Sign in to Reply
peter.clarke
1/24/2011 1:02 PM EST
I guess I could do a super list of all the companies that have ever appeared on the Silicon 60.....they are dropping off the list fast at the moment due to acquisitions; OneSpin Solutions being the latest.
Sign in to Reply
fpgaace
3/9/2011 8:47 AM EST
Can you check into Tabula?
Sign in to Reply
peter.clarke
4/5/2011 10:49 AM EDT
Check into Tabula? What about?
Sign in to Reply
NimrodO0l1
10/10/2011 6:26 PM EDT
Umm, SpectraWatt?
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4219234/Intel-s-solar-spinoff-files-for-bankruptcy
Seems like the promising companies are flaming out faster than you can get the list printed.
I view the previous sentence as more sad than sarcastic.
Sign in to Reply
Lithium-ion Battery
10/28/2011 7:32 AM EDT
Good topics.
http://www.lxt-group.com/02/en Lithium-ion Battery
Sign in to Reply
cjara
7/24/2012 11:09 AM EDT
Hello Peter do you know where this information was generated? I'm working with professors who are analyzing the behaviors of founders in the Silicon Valley region. Right now we are trying to find different areas to gather the information. Thanks!!
Sign in to Reply
peter.clarke
3/26/2013 12:18 PM EDT
@cjara
This information was generated by EE Times staff.
Sign in to Reply