Peregrine Semiconductor

Peregrine Semiconductor, known as pSemi, is a San Diego-based manufacturer of high-performance RF (radio frequency) CMOS integrated circuits. A Murata Manufacturing company since December 2014, the company's products are used in aerospace and defense, broadband, industrial, mobile wireless device, test and measurement equipment and wireless infrastructure markets.[2] Their UltraCMOS technology is a proprietary implementation of silicon on sapphire (SOS)[3] and silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates that enables high levels of monolithic integration.

Peregrine Semiconductor
IndustrySemiconductor
Founded1990
FoundersRon Reedy
Mark Burgener
Rory Moore
HeadquartersSan Diego, United States
Key people
Sumit Tomar (CEO)
Jim Cable(CTO)
Number of employees
605 (2019)[1]
ParentMurata Manufacturing
Websitewww.psemi.com

History

The company was founded in 1990 by former NOSC (Naval Ocean Systems Center) researchers Dr. Ron Reedy and Dr. Mark Burgener, along with partner Rory Moore. Reedy served as the CEO from 1990 to 1998, followed by Stav Prodromou from 1999 to 2002. Since then, Dr. James "Jim" Cable has served as the company's CEO.[4]

In May 2010 the company entered a joint development agreement with IBM Microelectronics for the development and manufacture of future generations of the pSemi's UltraCMOS process, with migration to 200mm wafers that facilitates the evolution of the process to advanced 180 nm, 130 nm and 90 nm nodes.[5] According to an article by EDN executive editor Ron Wilson, with mobile operators like China Mobile and Vodafone needing handsets with 11 or 12 bands and air interfaces, "designers need high levels of front end integration".[6]

On November 19, 2010 the company filed a preliminary prospectus S-1 registration statement in preparation for an IPO.[7] On August 8, 2012 the company's stock began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol PSMI. The IPO raised $77 million for the company.[8]

On August 22, 2014 Murata Electronics, a subsidiary of Murata Manufacturing, announced that they had purchased all outstanding shares of the company.[9] The deal was completed on December 12, 2014.[10] The company continues to market its RF solutions under the Peregrine brand, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Murata Electronics North America, Inc.[11] Since the acquisition, Murata has invested in the company's growth and has increased their employee count by 40 percent, as of summer 2016.[12]

In March 2017 the company acquired Arctic Sand Technologies, a designer and manufacturer of power converters based in Burlington, Massachusetts.[13]

Products

The company has about 150 products used in applications such as cellular base stations, medical devices, public safety radios, test and measurement equipment and mobile handsets.[14] In their handset business, the company's components are found in devices such as the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, iPhone 5S and iPad Air.[15]

In 2014 the company announced UltraCMOS Global 1, a specialized wireless chip that combines different radio frequency functions on a single microchip and claims to let a single phone connect to more than 40 frequency bands.[16][17] The company also claims that the power amplifier embedded on the Global 1 chip provides the same level of performance as the competing technology, gallium arsenide (GaAS). Global 1 will not be in volume production until late 2015 and will compete with Qualcomm's RF360 chip.[16]

Accomplishments

For their development of the silicon on sapphire technologies, founders Reedy & Burgener earned the IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technology in 2011.[18]

In Oct. 2013 the company announced that they had shipped their two billionth chip in an order to Murata Manufacturing company.[19]

References
  1. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/technology/sd-fi-peregrine-murata-20180122-story.html
  2. Hargrave, Marshall (Nov 14, 2013). "Peregrine Semiconductor: Misunderstood And Mispriced Apple Supplier". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  3. IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 9 Issue 1, Jan. 1988 High-quality CMOS in thin (100 nm) silicon on sapphire
  4. Press Release James Cable, CEO & Stav Prodromou, Chairman
  5. EE Times
  6. EDN Archived 2012-07-29 at Archive.today
  7. S-1 Statement (Amendment 2)
  8. Bigelow, Bruce (August 7, 2012). "After Persevering for 22 Years, Peregrine Semiconductor Marks IPO". Xconomy. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  9. "Murata Electronics to Acquire Peregrine Semi (PSMI) in Net $465M Deal". Street Insider.
  10. Maan, Lehar (22 August 2014). "UPDATE 2-Japan's Murata to buy Peregrine Semiconductor for $465 mln". Reuters. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  11. "Murata Completes Acquisition of Peregrine Semiconductor". PR Newswire. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  12. "Peregrine appoints Murata veteran as general manager of High Performance Analog business unit". Semiconductor Today. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  13. Cox, John (March 20, 2017). "Peregrine Semiconductor Acquires Arctic Sand Technologies". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  14. Freeman, Mike (13 December 2013). "Peregrine Semiconductor keeping the pace". U-T San Diego. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  15. Bedigian, Louis (Nov 9, 2013). "Apple Supplier Peregrine Semiconductor Is In More iPhones, iPads Than Investors Realize". Benzinga. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  16. Bigelow, Bruce (4 February 2014). "Peregrine Semiconductor Bets Big on Industry Shift in Wireless Chips". Xconomy. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  17. Fitchard, Kevin (7 February 2014). "The first smartphone powered end-to-end by Qualcomm will debut this year". GigaOM. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  18. IEEE Noble Awards
  19. SDBJ Staff (Oct 31, 2013). "Peregrine Ships Its 2 Billionth Chip". NBC San Diego. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
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