Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Semiconductors |
Founded | 1996 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States |
Key people | Matt Johnson (CEO) Nav Sooch (Chairman) |
Products | |
Revenue | US$1.02 billion (2022) |
US$119 million (2022) | |
US$91 million (2022) | |
Total assets | US$2.17 billion (2022) |
Total equity | US$1.41 billion (2022) |
Number of employees | 1,964 (December 2022) |
Website | silabs |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
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 worldwide.
It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. The company focuses on microcontrollers (MCUs) and wireless system on chips (SoCs) and modules. The company also produces software stacks including firmware libraries and protocol-based software, and a free software development platform called Simplicity Studio. [3]
Silicon Labs was founded in 1996 and two years later released its first product, an updated DAA design that enabled manufacturers to reduce the size and cost of a modem. [4] During its first three years, the company focused on RF and CMOS integration, [4] and developed the world's first CMOS RF synthesizer for mobile phones which was released in 1999. [4] Following the appointment of Tyson Tuttle as the CEO in 2012, [5] Silicon Labs has increasingly focused on developing technologies for the IoT market, [6] which in 2019 accounted for more than 50 percent of the company's revenue, [7] but in 2020 had increased to about 58 percent. [8]
In August 2019, Silicon Labs had more than 1,770 patents worldwide issued or pending. [9]
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. [4]
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. [4]
Since 2012, Silicon Labs has been increasingly focused on developing technologies for the evolving IoT market. [6] On April 22, 2021, Silicon Labs announced the sale of its infrastructure and automotive business to Skyworks Solutions Inc for $2.75 billion. [11] The deal was closed on July 26, 2021. [12]
In July 2021, it was announced that Tyson Tuttle would be stepping down as CEO. [13] In January 2022 former president, Matt Johnson, completed the transition into the CEO position. [14]
Silicon Labs provides semiconductor products for use in a variety of connected devices. The company also provides development kits and software including Simplicity Studio, an integrated development environment for IoT connected device applications.
'Silicon Labs' portfolio is built around the Internet of Things (IoT) focus area, primarily focused on home and life and industrial and commercial wireless applications.
Silicon Labs’ product portfolio is protected by a range of security measures: [41] [42]
Anti-rollback prevention
Differential Power Analysis (DPA) countermeasures
Protected secret key storage
Secure boot
Secure debug with lock/unlock
Secure link
Secure programming at manufacturing
Secure Vault
Silicon Labs technologies support seven wireless protocols. [49]
Bluetooth software enables developers to utilize Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth 5.1, Bluetooth 5.2, and Bluetooth mesh. Bluetooth SDK can be used to create standalone Bluetooth applications for Wireless Gecko SoCs or modules, or network co-processor (NCP) applications. Products include:
Proprietary wireless protocols [51] [52]
Devices cover sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies, delivering ultra-low power, long range, up to 20dBm output power and different modulation schemes for major frequency bands. Products include:
Technologies that enabling IP connectivity through self-healing mesh features, native IPv6 based connectivity and different security options. Products include:
Software stacks and development tools for Zigbee applications, including Mesh Networking SoCs and modules.
Modules and SoCs for applications in sectors including smart home, hospitality and MDUs, where sensors and battery-operated devices require long range and low power.
Wi-Fi SoCs and modules designed for applications requiring low power and good RF performance, such as IoT. Products include:
Wi-SUN®
Wi-SUN (Wireless Smart Ubiquitous Network) is a field area network (FAN) to enable long-distance connectivity (https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/wisun-new-wireless-standard-rivaling-lorawan-nb-iot-smart-cities/). The Wi-SUN technology aims to simplify LPWAN deployment and enable secure wireless connectivity in applications including advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), street lighting networks, asset management, and parking, air quality, and waste management sensors. [58]
Matter
Matter is a global IoT connectivity standard that builds on top of existing IP-connectivity protocols to enable cross-platform IoT communication, encompassing end products, mobile applications, and cloud services. Silicon Labs wireless devices are available for the development of Matter end products that support Thread, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth protocols. [59]
Amazon Sidewalk is a low-bandwidth, long-range wireless communication protocol developed by Amazon. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for short distance communication,[2] and 900 MHz CSS and FSK for longer distances.
Silicon Labs is a founding member of both the ZigBee Alliance [60] and the Thread Group, [61] and is on the Board of Directors at the Wi-SUN Alliance. [62]
The company is also a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, [63] Wi-Fi Alliance, [64] Z-Wave Alliance [65] and a Gold member of the Open Connectivity Foundation [66] and the RISC-V Foundation. [67]
For the fiscal year 2020, Silicon Labs reported GAAP earnings of $12.5 million with an annual revenue of $886 million. [86] Its market capitalization was valued at $6.02 billion in February 2021. [87]
Silicon Labs is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with regional offices in Boston, Massachusetts and San Jose, California. The company has also corporate offices in Montreal, Canada; Copenhagen, Denmark; Espoo, Finland; Budapest, Hungary; Oslo, Norway and Singapore.
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.
Silicon Labs has a wireless development center in Hyderabad, India. [88]
Nordic Semiconductor ASA was founded in 1983 and is a Norwegian fabless technology company with its headquarters in Trondheim, Norway. The company specializes in designing ultra-low-power wireless communication semiconductors and supporting software for engineers developing and manufacturing Internet of Things (IoT) products.
Synaptics Incorporated is a publicly owned San Jose, California-based developer of human interface (HMI) hardware and software, including touchpads for computer laptops; touch, display driver, and fingerprint biometrics technology for smartphones; and touch, video and far-field voice technology for smart home devices and automotives. Synaptics sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and display manufacturers.
Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used primarily for residential and commercial building automation. It is a mesh network using low-energy radio waves to communicate from device to device, allowing for wireless control of smart home devices, such as smart lights, security systems, thermostats, sensors, smart door locks, and garage door openers. The Z-Wave brand and technology are owned by Silicon Labs. Over 300 companies involved in this technology are gathered within the Z-Wave Alliance.
Telit Cinterion is an Internet of Things (IoT) Enabler company headquartered in Irvine, California, United States. It is a privately held company with key operations in the US, Brazil, Italy, Israel, and Korea.
MiWi is a proprietary wireless protocol supporting peer-to-peer, star network connectivity. It was designed by Microchip Technology. MiWi uses small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, and is designed for low-power, cost-constrained networks, such as industrial monitoring and control, home and building automation, remote control, wireless sensors, lighting control, and automated meter reading.
EFM32 Gecko MCUs are a family of mixed-signal 32-bit microcontroller integrated circuits from Energy Micro based on ARM Cortex-M CPUs, including the Cortex-M0+, Cortex-M3, and Cortex-M4.
An 802.15.4 radio module is a small device used to communicate wirelessly with other devices according to the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol.
Ember was an American company based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, which is now owned by Silicon Labs. Ember had a radio development centre in Cambridge, England, and distributors worldwide. It developed Zigbee wireless networking technology that enabled companies involved in energy technologies to help make buildings and homes smarter, consume less energy, and operate more efficiently. The low-power wireless technology can be embedded into a wide variety of devices to be part of a self-organizing mesh network. All Ember products conform to IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standards.
Digi XBee is the brand name of a popular family of form factor compatible wireless connectivity modules from Digi International. The first XBee modules were introduced under the MaxStream brand in 2005 and were based on the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard designed for point-to-point and star communications. Since the initial introduction, the XBee family has grown and a complete ecosystem of wireless modules, gateways, adapters and software has evolved.
An RF module is a (usually) small electronic device used to transmit and/or receive radio signals between two devices. In an embedded system it is often desirable to communicate with another device wirelessly. This wireless communication may be accomplished through optical communication or through radio-frequency (RF) communication. For many applications, the medium of choice is RF since it does not require line of sight. RF communications incorporate a transmitter and a receiver. They are of various types and ranges. Some can transmit up to 500 feet. RF modules are typically fabricated using RF CMOS technology.
Bluegiga Technologies Ltd. known as Bluegiga, is a Finnish wireless technology company based in Espoo, Finland. Founded in 2000, it has since expanded its offices to Atlanta in USA and Hong Kong. Bluegiga has been a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group since it was established and joined Continua Health Alliance in Spring 2008. The company joined Wi-Fi Alliance in the beginning of 2012.
Redpine Signals is a fabless semiconductor company that started its operation in 2001. The company makes chipsets and system-level products for wireless networks. It serves the Internet of Things and wireless embedded systems market, enabling all volume levels of chipsets and modules.
GreenPeak Technologies was an Utrecht, Netherlands-based fabless company developing semiconductor products and software for the IEEE 802.15.4 and Zigbee wireless market segment. Zigbee technology is used for Smart Home data communications and to facilitate the Internet of Things, the term used to refer to devices designed to be operated and managed by internet-enabled controllers and management systems.
Thread is an IPv6-based, low-power mesh networking technology for Internet of things (IoT) products. The Thread protocol specification is available at no cost; however, this requires agreement and continued adherence to an End-User License Agreement (EULA), which states that "Membership in Thread Group is necessary to implement, practice, and ship Thread technology and Thread Group specifications."
Sequans Communications is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits ("chips") and modules for 4G and 5G cellular IoT devices. The company is based in Paris, France with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Finland and China. The company was founded as a société anonyme in October 2003 by Georges Karam. It originally focused on the WiMAX market and expanded to the LTE market in 2009, dropping WiMAX altogether in 2011. Today the company develops and delivers only LTE chips and modules for the global 5G/4G cellular IoT market. Sequans was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2011. Karam is the company's CEO.
ESP32 is a series of low-cost, low-power system on a chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth. The ESP32 series employs either a Tensilica Xtensa LX6 microprocessor in both dual-core and single-core variations, Xtensa LX7 dual-core microprocessor or a single-core RISC-V microprocessor and includes built-in antenna switches, RF balun, power amplifier, low-noise receive amplifier, filters, and power-management modules. ESP32 is created and developed by Espressif Systems, a Chinese company based in Shanghai, and is manufactured by TSMC using their 40 nm process. It is a successor to the ESP8266 microcontroller.
Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) is an American smart home technology provider and manufacturer of universal remote controls, IoT devices such as voice-enabled smart home hubs, smart thermostats, home sensors; as well as a white label digital assistant platform optimized for smart home applications, and other software and cloud services for device discovery, fingerprinting and interoperability. The company designs, develops, manufactures and ships products both under the "One For All" brand and as an OEM for other companies in the audio video, subscription broadcasting, connected home, tablet and smart phone markets. In 2015, it expanded its product and technology platform to include home automation, intelligent sensing and security.
Weave is a network application layer protocol and, in implementation, a comprehensive toolkit for building connected Internet of Things-class applications, with a primary and current focus on consumer and residential applications.
Develco Products is a B2B wireless technology producer, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark. The company was established in 2007 and develops white label devices for B2C solution providers and has over 3,500,000 devices deployed worldwide... Their main business areas are home care, security, and smart energy. They are a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance as their main technological expertise lies in Zigbee-based devices that communicate through a mesh network. The company claims their most popular product is the Squid.link gateway.
The Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), formerly the Zigbee Alliance, is a group of companies that maintain and publish the Zigbee and Matter standard, along with several others.