TriQuint Semiconductor

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TriQuint Semiconductor
Type Public (NASDAQ: TQNT)
Founded 1985, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
Headquarters Hillsboro, Oregon, USA
Industry Wireless handsets, Base Station, Broadband Communications, Military, Foundry
Products GaAs, GaN, SAW filters, and BAW foundry services and components
Revenue ▲$475.8 million[1] USD (2007)
Operating income ▲$39.5 million USD (Q4 2007)
Website www.tqs.com

TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TQNT) is a semiconductor company that designs, manufactures, and supplies high-performance RF modules, components and foundry services. TriQuint primarily works with the semiconductor gallium arsenide, or GaAs, and is the number-three worldwide leader in GaAs devices and the world’s largest commercial GaAs foundry[2]. The company was founded in 1985 in Beaverton, Oregon, and is now headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon, with other locations in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Boulder, Colorado, Richardson, Texas, High Point, North Carolina, Apopka, Florida, Munich, Germany, Heredia, Costa Rica, and in other places around the world.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Beginnings

TriQuint Semiconductor began its life in the mid-1980s as a subsidiary of Tektronix. In 1985 the founders held a contest to come up with a name for the company. The winning entry paid homage to the gallium arsenide on which the company was founded. *Tri, from the Greek for “a prefix meaning three, thrice, threefold”, and quint, from the Latin for “a set or sequence of five” literally means 3-5. 3-5 refers to the location of the elements gallium and arsenic on the periodic table. The elements on the third and fifth columns of the periodic table, including nitrogen found in GaN, are known to have special conductive properties, great for producing compound semiconductors.

In 1988, the core group working in the spin-off had to decide if they wanted to continue to work under Tektronix as the GaAs SBU or if they wanted to venture out on their own. This core group met in a hotel room at the Greenwood Inn in Beaverton, OR and decided that they were going to use their experience to start the company that would eventually become TriQuint.

[edit] Mergers & Acquisitions

Gazelle Microcircuits and Gigabit Logic

In 1991, Gazelle Microcircuits, Gigabit Logic, and TriQuint all merged under the TriQuint name. The focus of the merged company was to produce components for mobile phones and other communication devices.

Sawtek

On May 15, 2001, TriQuint and Sawtek Inc. announced that the two companies would merge[3]. Sawtek made products based on surface acoustic wave, and with the merger, TriQuint was able to incorporate their technology into its products.

Infineon

In 2002, TriQuint acquired Infineon's GaAs semiconductor business as a part of a partnership between the two companies to create products together.[4]

Agere Systems' Optoelectronics

In late 2002, TriQuint acquired a large portion of Agere Systems' optoelectronics business.[5] TriQuint later sold the TriQuint Optoelectronics Business Unit created from this acquisition to CyOptics in 2005.[6]

TFR Technologies

In early 2005, TriQuint acquired TFR Technologies, located in Bend, OR.[7][8][9] TriQuint acquired the company to incorporate their work on bulk acoustic wave (BAW) products into their own work.

Peak Devices

On August 21, 2007, TriQuint announced that it would acquire Peak Devices Inc.[10][11]The acquisition was completed on September 4, 2007.[12][13] TriQuint acquired Peak Devices to incorporate their work on wide band bandwidth into its products.

WJ Communications

On March 11, 2008, TriQuint announced that it would acquire WJ Communications, Inc.[14] TriQuint made the acquisition to incorporate WJ Communications's RF products into its products.

[edit] Products

TriQuint Semiconductor creates standard and custom products using gallium arsenide, surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technologies. These processes are built to be used in many different devices. In wireless handsets, TriQuint creates many components, including power amplifiers (PA), power amplifier modules (PAM), pHEMT switches, SAW and BAW filters, filter modules, antenna switch modules (ASMs) and front-end modules (FEMs). TriQuint's GaAs and SAW technology is used inside many base stations. For broadband communications devices, TriQuint creates and produces optical modulator drivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIA), attenuators, Bessel filters, and low noise amplifiers (LNA). TriQuint's products are also used by the military.

TriQuint also offers foundry services, allowing TriQuint to manufacture its own products. TriQuint also allows fabless semiconductor companies to use its facilities for manufacturing.

[edit] Corporate executives

[edit] CEOs

  • 1985-1991: Alan Patz
  • 1991-1991: Bert Moyer (interm CEO May-September)
  • 1991-2002: Steve Sharp
  • 2002-present: Ralph Quinsey

[edit] Current board of directors

  • Paul A. Gary, Retired Executive, AT&T (now Agere Systems)
  • Charles Scott Gibson, Co-founder, former President, Sequent Computer Systems
  • Nicolas Kauser, President, Clearwire International
  • Ralph G. Quinsey, President and CEO, TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.
  • Walden C. Rhines, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Mentor Graphics Corporation
  • Steven J. Sharp, Chairman of the Board, TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.
  • Willis C. Young, Retired Senior Partner, BDO Seidman, LLP

[edit] Current executive officers

  • Ralph Quinsey, President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Steve Buhaly, Chief Financial Officer
  • Brian P. Balut, Vice President, Networks
  • Debbie Burke, Vice President, Human Resources
  • Thomas Cordner, Vice President, Military & Texas Operations
  • Todd DeBonis, Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Customer Service
  • Tim Dunn, Vice President, Handsets
  • Bruce R. Fournier, Vice President, Business Development
  • David Pye, Vice President, Oregon Operations
  • Glen A. Riley, Vice President, Commercial Foundry and Supply Chain Management
  • J. Michael Sanna, Vice President, Networks
  • Azhar Waseem, Vice President, Florida Operations

[edit] References

 This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications.
Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page.
This article has been tagged since March 2008.
  1. ^ Portland Business Journal, 2008-02-20. Retrieved on 2008-05-07
  2. ^ TriQuint Press Release, 2007-08-07. Retrieved on 2008-02-26
  3. ^ TriQuint Press Release, 2001-05-15. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  4. ^ EE Times Asia Article, 2002-05-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  5. ^ Compound Semiconductor Article, 2002-10-22. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  6. ^ TriQuint Press Release, 2005-04-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  7. ^ allbusiness.com Article, 2004-12-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-06
  8. ^ Portland Business Journal Article, 2004-12-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  9. ^ $mart Economy Blog, 2004-12-15. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  10. ^ TriQuint Press Release, 2007-08-21. Retrieved on 2008-02-26
  11. ^ Peak Devices Press Release, 2007-08-31. Retrieved on 2008-02-26
  12. ^ TriQuint Press Release, 2007-09-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  13. ^ Portland Business Journal Article, 2007-09-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
  14. ^ Portland Business Journal Article, 2008-03-10. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.

[edit] External links