Altera

Altera Corporation, founded in 1983, is a worldwide leader in high-performance, high-density programmable logic devices and associated computer aided engineering (CAE) logic development tools. Programmable logic devices are semiconductor chips that offer on-site programmability to customers. The chips are programmed with tools that run on personal computers or engineering workstations. User benefits include ease of use, lower risk, and fast time-to-market. The Company offers the broadest line of CMOS programmable logic devices that address high-speed, high density, and lower power applications. Altera products service a broad range of market areas, including telecommunications, data communications, computers, and industrial applications. Founded in 1983, Altera Corporation is a leading maker of high-density programmable logic devices (PLDs), based on metal-oxide semiconductor technology (CMOS). These logic chips are circuits used in a variety of devices to produce electrical signals. The specific technology associated with programmable logic chips requires less power than other chips, and is more efficient than custom logic chips, reducing development time and time-to-market. Altera's products are used by makers of communications, computer, and industrial equipment. In addition to PLDs, Altera also creates software to help customers program standard integrated circuits. Rodney Smith--a British applications engineer and then Fairchild Semiconductor manager--founded Altera in 1983 with $500,000 in seed money. Joining Smith as founding members were three others with considerable semiconductor industry experience: Robert Hartmann of Signetics Corp., James Sansbury of Hewlett-Packard Co., and Paul Newhagen of Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. The name "Altera" was introduced in 1984, standing for the word "alterable." That year, the company introduced its first generation of chips. Altera's sales strategy, from the beginning, has been to offer a range of standard programmable parts for the IBM PC AT with inexpensive development tools, allowing customers to self-design and program custom logic circuits that meet their specific needs. This strategy was formulated to meet the industry need created by the delay associated with custom chips, due to the high percentage of silicon designs that require revision toward the end of the design cycle. With erasable, reprogrammable chips, revision can proceed immediately and repeatedly until all design bugs have been eliminated. A relationship with Intel Corp. began in August 1984, when the companies agreed to swap certain designs. In 1985, Intel began to market a group of Altera's logic microchips. In 1988, Altera went public, and calendar sales for the year reached $38 million. The company also purchased a minority interest in Cypress Semiconductor's wafer fabrication facility (fab), and introduced a new generation of chips. The company launched the industry's first erasable programmable logic device (EPLD), which provided a complete interface to the PS⁄2's Micro Channel Bus. This new device allowed vendors to save time and board space. New EPLD programming software--usable on IBM PC AT and compatible computers&mdashcompanied the device. Later that year, Altera came forth with another innovation, MAX (multiple-array matrix), a new architecture for ultra-violet-erasable programmable logic devices that doubled the timing and quadrupled the density of previous AND⁄OR EPLD arrays. The new devices presented up to 5,000 gates, system speeds of up to 40 MHz, and over 200,000 unique programmable elements. Because the structure of the new PLDs differed so much from previous PLD devices, which used the AND⁄OR architecture, Altera offered a tool-kit addition to quicken the learning curve for designers. The package, which was workable on IBM Personal Computer ATs and compatibles, contained a graphics-design editor, a design-processing engine, a timing simulator, and programming software modules, all contr