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Semiconductor Group

Texas Instruments (TI) is one of the world's largest suppliers of semiconductor products.

In the last three years alone, TI Semiconductor Group has received more than 150 quality awards worldwide, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) corporate innovation recognition award for DSP Solutions Leadership, Arthur D. Little's Best of the Best Process Management, AT&T Paradyne's Supplier of the Year, Ford Motor Company's Ford Quality Award, Dataquest's European SC Vendor of the Year, Singapore Quality Award, Ericsson (Spain) Supplier of the Year, and The Ichimura Prize, awarded by Japan's Ichimura Foundation.

Market Leadership:
  • Seventh largest semiconductor supplier (Dataquest)
  • World's leading Digital Signal Processor (DSP) provider, with 44.7% of the market in 1996, which is projected to be $9 billion by the year 2000 (Forward Concepts).
1995 TI Revenues:$13.1 billion, contributed by four major segments, including Components, of which Semiconductor Group is the majority. Components accounted for more than 70% of total TI revenue.
Headquarters: Dallas, TX; USA
Management:Richard K. Templeton, TI Executive Vice President and Semiconductor Group President
Employees worldwide:More than half of TI's 60,000 employees are part of the Semiconductor Group
Manufacturing facilities:29 plants in 11 countries
23 are wholly owned by TI
6 are joint ventures
KTI (Kobe Steel)
TI-Acer (Acer Corp.)
TECH (Cannon, Hewlett-Packard, Govt. of Singapore)
TwinStar (Hitachi)
MEMC SW (MEMC Electronic Materials Incorporated)
Alpha-TI (Bangkok entrepreneur Charn Uswachoke)
Also available to TI, under a long-term cooperative agreement, will be a percentage of the output from a new facility in Korea being built by Anam Industrial Co., Ltd. of Korea and US-based Amkor Electronics, Incorporated.
Key Markets: Hard Disk Drives
Networking
Telecom/Wireless
Automotive/Industrial
Multimedia
Consumer/Audio
Computer/PC
Products:DSPs (Digital Signal Processors)* Specialized microprocessors that can process data at high speeds or instantaneously (real time). Used to process digital information or "signals" from images, video, voices, music, etc.
Memory ICs (Integrated Circuits): Chips that store data for processing in computers and many other electronic systems.
Networking Devices: Chips that process information to be communicated between computers.
ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuits): Custom chips developed for a specific customer's application. Common applications include telecom switching (central station) and networking equipment.
Microcontrollers: Chips that process information in systems such as automobiles, industrial motors and household appliances.
Mixed Signal Devices* Chips that connect digital signals to the analog world (all sounds/signals are analog). For example, a digital signal processor would connect to a mixed-signal chip that serves as the filter for sound in an audio-processing application. Some TI mixed-signal products are analog-to-digital converters (used in any electronics application), digital telephone answering devices (used in the new combo answering machine/telephone/pager systems), speech chips (used in talking toys).
Advanced System Logic ICs: Chips that basically allow all of the products above to communicate with each other. Commonly described as the products that glue everything on the board. These devices are used in every application that requires ICs.

*Together, TI's DSP and mixed signal products form the foundation of the company's digital signal processing solutions strategy -- with estimated market potential of $12 billion by the year 2000. TI has more than 20,000 DSP customers worldwide in the computer, communications, consumer, automotive, military and industrial markets.

Historical Highlights:


1952: TI enters the semiconductor business

1954: TI produces the first commercial silicon transistor

1957: TI begins manufacturing semiconductors in the UK

1958: TI invents the integrated circuit (IC)

1960: TI France is incorporated to manufacture and market semiconductors for the European Common Market

1966: TI begins semiconductor production in Freising, Germany

1968: TI Japan Limited is incorporated and semiconductor manufacturing begins in Hatogaya, Japan

1971 TI announces the first single-chip microprocessor and single-chip microcomputer

1973: TI introduces the 4K-bit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip

1975: TI introduces three-dimensional seismic data processing technology

1982: TI introduces the first commercial single-chip DSP

1984: TI introduces the first multiport video random-access memory chip

1985: TI introduces the first 4-megabit DRAM using fully integrated trench memory cell1988: TI enters an agreement with Hitachi Ltd. for development of 16-megabit DRAM technology

1989: TI forms joint venture with Acer Incorporated to manufacture advanced semiconductors in Taiwan, and announces construction of advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in Avezzano, Italy

1990: TI forms joint venture with Kobe Steel in Japan to manufacture advanced semiconductors

1991: TI produces the first optoelectronic IC combining silicon and gallium arsenide circuits

TI fabricates SuperSPARC 3.1 million transistor single-chip RISC microprocessor in 0.8-micron BiCMOS

TI enters joint venture with Canon, Hewlett-Packard and government of Singapore to build

advanced semiconductor fabrication facility in Singapore

TI becomes first U.S.-based semiconductor company to open a dedicated R&D facility in Japan

1992: TI introduces microSPARC single-chip processor with all essential system logic of engineering workstation TI introduces PRISM process for design of mixed-signal ICs

1993: TI announces cooperative agreement with Hitachi for development of 256-megabit DRAM

TI demonstrates world's fastest cycle time (3 days) for manufacture of integrated circuit

TI begins construction of new semiconductor manufacturing facility in Dallas

1994: TI introduces the TMS320C80, the first commercially available single-chip processor to combine multiple parallel DSPs and RISC chip architectures

TI enters into a joint-venture agreement with Hitachi Ltd. to manufacture advanced semiconductors

1995: TI implements The Online DSP Lab, an electronic laboratory for testing TI Digital Signal Processing application design and development tools on the World Wide Web

1996: TI announces TImeline Technology for building semiconductors with transistors as small as 0.18 micron and containing as many as 125 million transistors on a single chip

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Trademarks:
SuperSPARC is a trademark of Texas Instruments, Incorporated.
MicroSPARC is a trademark of Texas Instruments, Incorporated.
PRISM is a trademark of Texas Instruments, Incorporated.
The Online DSP Lab is a trademark of Texas Instruments, Incorporated.