Silicon Labs
Silicon Laboratories, Inc. 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 infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets worldwide.
It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. The company focuses on microcontrollers, wireless system on chips, timing devices, digital isolation devices, sensors and broadcast devices. The company also produces software stacks including firmware libraries and protocol-based software, and a free software development platform called Simplicity Studio.
Silicon Labs was founded in 1996 and released its first product, an updated DAA design that enabled manufacturers to reduce the size and cost of a modem, two years later. During its first three years, the company focused on RF and CMOS integration, and developed the world's first CMOS RF synthesizer for mobile phones which was released in 1999. Following the appointment of Tyson Tuttle as the CEO in 2012, Silicon Labs has increasingly focused on developing solutions for the IoT market, which accounts for more than 50 percent of the company's revenue.
In August 2019, Silicon Labs had more than 1,770 patents worldwide issued or pending.
Company history
Silicon Labs was founded by Crystal Semiconductor alumni Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott in 1996. It became a publicly traded company in 2000. 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.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.
Since 2012, Silicon Labs has been increasingly focused on developing solutions for the evolving IoT market.
Key product launches
- In 1998, released updated DAA design.
- In 1999, launched RF Chip.
- In 2001, released first products in its timing portfolio, a family of clock generators designed for high-speed communication systems.
- In 2003, entered the mixed-signal MCU market with analog-intensive high-speed 8-bit MCUs.
- In 2004, released its first crystal oscillator family featuring patented digital phase locked loop technology.
- In 2005, introduced a single-chip FM receiver, which enabled FM radio to be installed in a new range of applications.
- In 2006, entered the automotive electronics market with the launch of an integrated MCU family.
- In 2007, launched industry's first single-port PoE interface with integrated DC-DC controller.
- In 2008, released industry's smallest fully integrated automotive AM/FM radio receiver IC.
- In 2009, entered the human interface market with a portfolio of fast-response touch, proximity and ambient light sensor devices.
- In 2010, introduced industry's first single-chip multimedia digital TV demodulator.
- In 2011, released industry's first single-chip hybrid TV receiver.
- In 2012, entered the ARM-based 32-bit MCU market with a line of mixed-signal MCUs with USB and non-USB options.
- In 2013, introduced the world's first single-chip digital radio receivers for consumer electronics.
- In 2014, released the world's first digital ultraviolet index sensors.
- In 2015, launched Thread networking technology for connecting devices including wireless sensor networks, thermostats, connected lighting devices and control panels.
- In 2016, released Gecko family of multiprotocol wireless SoC devices.
- In 2017, launched industry's first wireless clocks that support 4G/LTE and Ethernet.
- In 2018, launched Z-Wave 700 hardware/software IoT platform.
- In 2019, launched updated version of wireless Gecko web development platform.
Leadership
- Tyson Tuttle, President and Chief Executive Officer
- John Hollister, Chief Financial Officer
- Brandon Tolany, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- Alessandro Piovaccari, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technical Officer
- Daniel Cooley, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer
- Matt Johnson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IoT Products
- Mark Thompson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure
- Megan Lueders, Chief Marketing Officer
- Sandeep Kumar, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations
- Sharon Hagi, Chief Security Officer
- Lori Knowlton, Chief People Officer
- Nestor Ho, Chief Legal Officer, Vice President and Corporate Secretary
Products
Silicon Labs’ portfolio is organized around four focus areas: Internet of Things, Infrastructure, Broadcast, and Access.
Internet of Things">Internet of things">Internet of Things
- Wireless:
- * System-on-Chip
- * Mesh Networking Modules
- * Protocols supported include:
- ** Bluetooth
- ** Proprietary wireless protocols for Sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz
- ** Zigbee wireless SoCs and development tools
- ** Z-Wave wireless solutions for smart home applications
- ** Thread networking solutions
- ** Wi-Fi transceivers, transceiver modules, Xpress modules, stand-alone modules
- MCUs
- * EFM8TM 8-bit MCUs
- * EFM32TM 32-bit MCUs
- Sensors
[Infrastructure]
- Timing
- * Clock generators
- * Jitter attenuating clocks
- * Clock buffers
- * Crystal oscillators and voltage-controlled oscillators
- Isolation
- * Digital isolators
- * Isolated gate and FET drivers
- * Isolated ADCs
- * Isolated analog
- Power
- * Powered Device controllers
- * Power Sourcing Equipment controllers
- * PSE power management ICs
Broadcast">Broadcasting">Broadcast
- Automotive radio
- TV tuners
Access
- Modems
- SLICs
- Power over Ethernet controllers
Security technologies
Silicon Labs’ product portfolio is protected by a range of security measures:
Anti-rollback prevention
- Protects device by preventing the execution of previous versions of authenticated firmware that might carry security flaws
Differential Power Analysis countermeasures
Protected secret key storage
Public Key Infrastructure
- IoT Device Certificate Authority enabling device-to-device or device-to-server identity authentication
- Secure Boot with Root of Trust and Secure Loader provides additional security for loading initial code to the system microcontroller
- Access to debug port controlled by a unique lock token generated by signing a revocable unique identifier with a customer generated private key
- Encrypting the link between a host processor and radio transceiver or network co-processor
Secure Vault
- Integrated hardware and software security technology designed to protect connected products as well as the manufacturer’s brand, design and consumer data. The hardware features are implemented on a wireless SoC, so connected devices can be updated over-the-air throughout the product life cycle. The security subsystem including a dedicated core, bus and memory, is separate from the host processor: isolating critical security features, including secure key store management and cryptography, into their own functional areas makes the overall device more secure. The combination of security features offered by Secure Vault is designed to help companies address emerging regulatory measures including GDPR and SB-327. Features include:
- * Secure device identity: a secure device identity certificate provided during IC manufacturing for each individual silicon die enables post-deployment security, authenticity and attestation-based health checks. The device certificate guarantees the authenticity of the chip for its lifetime.
- * Secure key management and storage: keys are encrypted and isolated from the application code, with virtually unlimited secure key storage as all keys are encrypted using master encryption generated using a PUF. The power-up signatures are unique to a single device and master key storage is eliminated as keys are created during the power-up phase.
- * Advanced tamper detection: product enclosure tamper resistance and tamper detection of silicon through voltage, frequency and temperature manipulations to protect against glitch attacks. Configurable features enable developers to set up appropriate response actions with interrupts, resets or secret key deletion.
Zentri Device Management Service
Industry associations
Silicon Labs is a founding member of both the ZigBee Alliance and the Thread Group. The company is also a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Wi-Fi Alliance, Z-Wave Alliance and a Gold member of the Open Connectivity Foundation and the RISC-V Foundation.Acquisitions
- In 2000, Silicon Labs acquired Krypton Isolation Inc.
- In 2003, Silicon Labs acquired Cygnal Integrated Products.
- In 2005, Silicon Labs acquired Silicon Magike.
- In 2006, Silicon Labs acquired Silembia.
- In 2008, Silicon Labs acquired Integration Associates.
- In 2010, Silicon Labs acquired Silicon Clocks.
- In 2010, Silicon Labs acquired ChipSensors.
- In 2011, Silicon Labs acquired SpectraLinear.
- In 2012, Silicon Labs acquired Ember Corporation.
- In 2013, Silicon Labs acquired Energy Micro.
- In 2014, Silicon Labs acquired the full product portfolio of Touchstone Semiconductor.
- In 2015, Silicon Labs acquired Bluegiga.
- In 2015, Silicon Labs acquired Telegesis.
- In 2016, Silicon Labs acquired Micrium.
- In 2017, Silicon Labs acquired Zentri.
- In 2018, Silicon Labs acquired the Z-Wave business from Sigma Designs.
- In 2019, Silicon Labs acquired IEEE 1588 precision time protocol software and module assets from Qulsar.
- In 2020, Silicon Labs acquired Redpine Signals’ connectivity business.
Finances
Locations
Silicon Labs is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with regional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; San Jose, California; and Weston, Florida. The company has also corporate offices in Sydney, Australia; Quebec, Canada; Copenhagen, Denmark; Espoo, Finland; Budapest, Hungary; Oslo, Norway; Singapore; and High Wycombe, the UK.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.