NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: NXPI
Industry	Electronics
Founded	2006, formerly a division of Philips
Headquarters	High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands
Key people	Rick Clemmer, President & CEO
Products	Semiconductors
Revenue	US$6.1 billion (2015)
Operating income	US$1.68 billion (2015)
Net income	US$1.4 billion (2015)
Number of employees	45,000 (2016)[1]
Website	www.nxp.com

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a global semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The company employs approximately 45,000 people in more than 35 countries, including 11,200 engineers in 23 countries.^[2]NXP reported revenue of $6.1 billion in 2015, including one month of revenue contribution from recently acquired Freescale Semiconductor.^[3]

NXP is currently the fifth-largest non-memory semiconductor supplier globally, and the leading semiconductor supplier for the Secure Identification, Automotive and Digital Networking industries.^[4]The company was founded in 1953, with manufacturing and development in Nijmegen, Netherlands.^[5] Known then as Philips Semiconductors, the company was sold to a consortium of private equity investors in 2006, at which point the company's name was changed to NXP.^[6]

On August 6, 2010, NXP completed its IPO, with shares trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol NXPI. On December 23, 2013, NXP Semiconductors was added to the NASDAQ 100.^[7]Finally, on March 2, 2015, it was announced that NXP Semiconductors would merge with chip designer and manufacturer Freescale Semiconductor in a $40 billion US-dollar deal.^[8][9] The merger was closed on December 7, 2015.^[10]

NXP Semiconductors provides mixed signal and standard product solutions based on its security, identification, automotive, networking, RF, analog, and power management expertise. With an emphasis on security of the connected vehicle and the growing Internet of Things, the company's products are used in a wide range of "smart" automotive, identification, wired and wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, consumer, mobile and computing applications.

NXP is the co-inventor of near field communication (NFC) technology along with Sony and supplies NFC chip sets that enable mobile phones to be used to pay for goods, and store and exchange data securely.^[11] NXP manufactures chips for eGovernment applications such as electronic passports; RFID tags and labels; and transport and access management, with the chip set and contactless card for MIFARE used by many major public transit systems worldwide.^[12]

In addition, NXP manufactures automotive chips for in-vehicle networking, passive keyless entry and immobilization, and car radios.^[13] NXP invented the I²C interface over 30 years ago and is a supplier of I²C solutions.^[14] NXP is also a volume supplier of standard logic devices, and celebrated its 50 years in logic (via its history as both Signetics and Philips Semiconductors) in March 2012.^[15]

NXP currently owns more than 9,000 issued or pending patents.^[16]

Philips Semiconductors

• Silicon Valley-based Signetics, the "first company in the world established expressly to make and sell integrated circuits"^[17] and inventor of the 555 timer IC, was acquired by Philips in 1975. At the time, it was claimed that "with the Signetics acquisition, Philips was now number two in the league table of semiconductor manufacturers in the world."^[18] In 1987, Philips-Signetics, a unit of Philips, was ranked Europe's largest semiconductor maker, with sales of $1.36 billion in 1986.^[19]
• Philips acquired VLSI Technology in June 1999. At the time, the acquisition made Philips the world's sixth largest semiconductor company.^[20]
• In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to legally separate its semiconductor division, Philips Semiconductors, into an independent legal entity.^[21]
• In September 2006, Philips completed the sale of an 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Apax Partners, and AlpInvest Partners.^[22]

Launch of NXP Semiconductors N.V.

• The new company name NXP was announced on August 31, 2006,^[6] and was officially launched during the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin. The newly independent NXP was ranked as one of the world's top 10 semiconductor companies.^[23] At the time, CEO Frans van Houten emphasized the importance of NXP in enabling "vibrant media" technologies in mobile phones, digital TVs, portable music players and other consumer electronics devices.^[24]
• NXP's first acquisition as an independent company was in 2007, when NXP announced that it would acquire Silicon Laboratories’ AeroFONE single-chip phone and power amplifier product lines to strengthen its Mobile and Personal business.^[25] Fourteen months later, NXP announced that it would transform its Mobile and Personal business unit into a joint venture with STMicroelectronics, which in 2009 became ST-Ericsson, a 50/50 joint venture of Ericsson Mobile Platforms and STMicroelectronics, after ST purchased NXP's 20% stake.^[26]
• Similarly, in April 2008, NXP announced it would acquire the set-top box business of Conexant to complement its existing Home business unit.^[27] In October 2009, NXP announced that it would sell its Home business unit to Trident Microsystems.^[28]
• In September 2008, NXP announced that it would restructure its manufacturing, R&D and back office operations, resulting in 4,500 job cuts worldwide, for annual savings of $550 million.^[29]

Notable events

• Current president and CEO Rick Clemmer took over from Frans van Houten on January 1, 2009.^[30] Clemmer has emphasized the importance of "high performance mixed signal" products as a key focus area for NXP.^[31] As of 2011, "standard products" including components such as small signal, power and integrated discretes^[32] accounted for 30 percent of NXP's business.^[31]
• On July 26, 2010, NXP announced that it had acquired Jennic based in Sheffield, UK,^[33] which now operates as part of its Smart Home and Energy product line, offering wireless connectivity solutions based on ZigBee and JenNet-IP.
• On August 6, 2010, NXP announced its IPO at NASDAQ, with 34,000,000 shares, pricing each $14.^[34]
• In December 2010, NXP announced that it would sell its Sound Solutions business to Knowles Electronics, part of Dover Corporation, for $855 million in cash.^[35] The acquisition was completed as of July 5, 2011.^[36]
• In April 2012, NXP announced its intent to acquire electronic design consultancy Catena to work on automotive applications, to capitalize on growing demand for engine emissions reduction and car-to-infrastructure, car-to-car, and car-to-driver communication.^[37]
• In July 2012, NXP sold its high-speed data converter assets to Integrated Device Technology.^[38]
• In 2012, revenue for NXP's Identification business unit was $986 million, up 41% from 2011, in part due to growing sales of NFC chips and secure elements.^[39]
• On January 4, 2013, NXP and Cisco announced their investment in Cohda Wireless, an Australian company focused on car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications.^[40]
• In January 2013, NXP announced 700-900 redundancies worldwide in an effort to cut costs related to "support services".^[41]
• In May 2013, NXP announced that it acquired Code Red Technologies, a provider of embedded software development such as the LPCXpresso IDE and Red Suite.^[42]
• In July 2014, NXP was reported to have sacked union organisers.^[43] A campaign was started for their reinstatement.^[44]

Merger with Freescale Semiconductor

• In March 2015, a merger agreement was announced through which NXP would acquire rival Freescale Semiconductor.^[45]
• The RF Power Division was sold to JAC Capital for $1.8 billion in a transaction closed in November 2015.^[46]
• On December 7, 2015, NXP completed its acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor and the merged company continued operations as NXP Semiconductors N.V.

Analysis of merger

Both have deep roots stretching back to when they were part of Philips NV (in the case of NXP), and Motorola (Freescale). Each has comparable revenue figures; US$4.8B and US$4.2B for NXP and Freescale respectively in 2013. NXP primarily focuses on near field communication (NFC) and high-performance mixed signal (HPMS) hardware. Freescale focuses on its microprocessor and microcontroller. Both companies possess roughly equal patent portfolios.^[47]

Certainly, each company brings core strengths to the combined organization, NFC from NXP and microcontrollers from Freescale. Also, both companies have been actively involved in litigation over the years as both plaintiff and defendant, so a larger and, more importantly, a more geographically diverse patent portfolio could likely prove useful in such matters. Chipworks' analysts suggest the newly merged company will divest itself of many properties as the merger progresses.^[47]

Some analysts believe cost savings after the two companies merge are expected to be about $500M dollars. Customers are ultimately divided over the consolidation of their product families and how it may affect their own development and end-products.^[47]

Worldwide sites

NXP Headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2011

NXP LPC1114 in 33-pin HVQFN package and LPC1343 in 48-pin LQFP package, both ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers

NXP Semiconductors is headquartered in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company has operations in more than 35 countries, with engineering design teams in 23 countries.^[48]

NXP currently has 14 manufacturing sites, with seven test and assembly sites and seven wafer fabs:

Test and assembly

• Bangkok, Thailand
• Cabuyao City, Philippines
• Guangdong, China
• Kaohsiung, Taiwan
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Seremban, Malaysia
• Tianjin, China

Wafer fabs

• Hamburg, Germany
• Manchester, United Kingdom
• Chandler, Arizona, United States
• Austin, Texas, United States (2)
• Nijmegen, Netherlands
• Singapore

Joint ventures and other major interests

• Systems on Silicon Manufacturing company (SSMC) Pte. Ltd. (61%)
• Datang NXP Semiconductors Co., Ltd. (49%)
• Suzhou ASEN Semiconductors Co., Ltd (40%)
• Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (27%)
• Cohda Wireless Pty Ltd. (23%)

See also

• NXP MIFARE contactless smart cards and proximity cards
• NXP LPC microcontrollers
• NXP GreenChip

References

1. "Company Factsheet" (PDF). www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
2. "Company Factsheet" (PDF). www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
3. "NXP Semiconductors Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2015 Results". www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
4. "Company Overview" (PDF). www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
5. Penning de Vries, Rene (2010). NXP in the making: The world's first HPMS company. ISBN 9789081541916.
6. "Philips Semiconductors to become NXP", EE Times, August 31, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
7. "NXP Semiconductors N.V. Joins the NASDAQ-100 Index". MarketWatch. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
8. http://www.nxp.com/news/press-releases/2015/03/nxp-and-freescale-announce-40-billion-merger.html NXP and Freescale Announce $40 Billion Merger
9. http://otp.investis.com/clients/us/free_scale/usn/usnews-story.aspx?cid=896&newsid=28737 NXP and Freescale Announce $40 Billion Merger
10. NXP Semiconductors And Freescale Semiconductor Close Merger RTTNews. Retrieved on 2015-12-13.
11. "NXP says demand for NFC chips to soar", Reuters, May 19, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
12. "NXP Consolidates No. 1 Position in Worldwide ID Market", ECN Europe, August 4, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
13. "http://www.nxp.com/profile/". Retrieved November 9, 2011.
14. "NXP unveils UCODE I2C RFID chip", PC's Semiconductors Blog, April 5, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
15. NXP.com, "NXP celebrates 50 years in logic!". Retrieved February 4, 2013.
16. "Company Factsheet" (PDF). www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
17. Computer History Museum,Guide to the Don Liddie papers on Signetics. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
18. "Philips Is World No.2 In Semiconductors" ElectronicsWeekly.com, April 28, 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
19. "INTERNATIONAL REPORT; CHIP BATTLE GROWS IN EUROPE", New York Times, May 11, 1987. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
20. "COMPANY NEWS; PHILIPS IN $1 BILLION DEAL FOR VLSI TECHNOLOGY", New York Times, May 4, 1999. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
21. "Philips targets end '06 for chips unit IPO or merger", EE Times, June 21, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2011,
22. "KKR, Bain Sell NXP in Initial Offering at 46% Discount to LBO", Bloomberg, August 6, 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
23. "What Are KKR's Plans for Philips Semi?", BusinessWeek, August 2, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
24. "NXP Hits The Ground Running", Forbes.com, September 1, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
25. "NXP pays $285 million for Silicon Labs' cellular unit", EE Times, February 8, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
26. "ST-NXP Wireless changes name to ST-Ericsson, 85% of employees in R&D", EDN, February 12, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
27. "NXP to acquire Conexant's set-top box business", EE Times, April 28, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
28. "NXP sells digital TV chip business, takes stake in Trident", Electronics Weekly, October 5, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
29. "UPDATE 2-NXP restructures: affects 4,500 jobs, costs $800 mln", Reuters, September 12, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
30. "Van Houten leaves NXP as former TI, Agere exec takes over", EE Times, December 31, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
31. "Rick Clemmer, Executive Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, NXP", New Electronics, February 8, 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
32. "NXP CEO Says Google Wallet to Double Its Near-Field Chip Sales", Dow Jones Newswires, June 9, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
33. "NXP buys Jennic, boosts short-range RF portfolio", EE Times, July 26, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
34. "NXP Announces Pricing of Its Initial Public Offering".
35. "NXP to sell off Sound Solutions business", Electronics Weekly, December 22, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
36. "Dover Corporation Completes Acquisition of Sound Solutions from NXP Semiconductors N.V.", Reuters, July 5, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
37. "NXP buys Dutch design house for automotive thrust", EE Times, April 4, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
38. "IDT buys NXP's data converter assets", EE Times, July 19, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
39. "NXP CEO: 'We Know We're Going to Have More Competition'", NFC Times, January 31, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
40. "Cisco, NXP Place Bet on Connected Car Company", Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
41. "NXP plans to cut 700 to 900 jobs worldwide", Computerworld, January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
42. Press Release; NXP; May 1, 2013.
43. NXP sacks union leaders; Electronics Weekly; July 16, 2014.
44. Apple: Demand Jobs Back For Fired iPhone Workers; ND.
45. DANA MATTIOLI, GILLIAN TAN (1 March 2015). "NXP, Freescale Agree to Merger: Cash-and-stock deal values U.S. chip maker at $11.8 billion". Wall Street Journal.
46. http://www.everythingrf.com/News/details/1576-nxp-to-sell-rf-power-business-for-1-8-billion NXP to Sell RF Power Business for $1.8 Billion
47. http://www.chipworks.com/en/technical-competitive-analysis/resources/blog/nxpfreescale-merger-a-union-of-equals/ NXP/Freescale Merger a Union of Equals
48. "Company Factsheet" (PDF). www.nxp.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

External links

• Official website
• NXP's no-big-chip-in-the-middle strategy – EE Times article about NXP's high-performance mixed signal strategy
• FAQ around the MIFARE issue on NXP website