Applied Micro Circuits Corporation#History

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{{Infobox company

| name = Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

| foundation = {{start date and age|1979}}

| type = Public:

| traded_as = {{NASDAQ was|AMCC}}

| fate = Acquired by MACOM Technology Solutions

| defunct = {{end date and age|2017|01|26}}

| location = Santa Clara, California, US

| key_people = Paramesh Gopi (CEO)

| industry = Semiconductors & Related Devices

| num_employees = ~600

| revenue = {{profit}}US$206 million (FY 2010)[https://web.archive.org/web/20111210024758/http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Applied_Micro_Circuits_(AMCC)/Data/Income_Statement Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) annual SEC income statement filing via Wikinvest.]

| operating_income = {{loss}}US$-26.1 million (FY 2010)

| net_income = {{loss}}US$-7.49 million (FY 2010)

| assets = {{decrease}}US$316 million (FY 2010)[https://web.archive.org/web/20111210013559/http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Applied_Micro_Circuits_(AMCC)/Data/Balance_Sheet Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) annual SEC balance sheet filing via Wikinvest.]

| equity = {{decrease}}US$281 million (FY 2010)

| homepage = {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516025613/https://www.apm.com/|title=apm.com}}

}}

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (also known as AppliedMicro, AMCC or APM) was a fabless semiconductor company designing network and embedded Power ISA (including a Power ISA license), and server processor ARM (including an ARMv8-A license), optical transport and storage products.

History

In 2004, AMCC bought assets, IP and engineers concerning the PowerPC 400 microprocessors from IBM for $227 million and began marketing the processors under their own name.{{Cite web |last=Law |first=Gillian |date=2004-04-13 |title=Applied Micro buys IBM PowerPC assets for $227 million |url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/2332173/applied-micro-buys-ibm-powerpc-assets-for--227-million.html |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=Network World |language=en}} The deal also included access to IBM's SoC design methodology and advanced CMOS process technology.

In 2009, AppliedMicro changed their branding from AMCC to AppliedMicro,{{Cite web |title=Applied Micro Circuits changes name |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/11/30/daily8.html |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=www.bizjournals.com}} but still retain the name "Applied Micro Circuits Corporation" officially.

In 2011, AppliedMicro became the first company to implement the ARMv8-A architecture with its X-Gene Platform. In November 2012 at ARM TechCon, AppliedMicro demonstrated advanced web search capabilities and the ability to handle big data workloads in an Apache Hadoop software environment with the X-Gene Platform using FPGA emulation. A silicon implementation of X-Gene was first exhibited publicly in June 2013.{{cite web|title=AMCC X-Gene 64-bit silicon spotted in the wild|date=6 June 2013 |url=http://www.semiaccurate.com/2013/06/05/amcc-x-gene-64-bit-silicon-spotted-in-the-wild/|publisher=SemiAccurate|quote=SemiAccurate has been waiting for one big thing before declaring ARM servers real and AMCC has just delivered that. If you have been waiting for ARM V8 silicon to arrive, may we present to you AMCC X-Gene silicon in the wild.|access-date=14 June 2013}}

In April 2016, information about the forthcoming X-Gene 3 server chips was made available. The release schedule was for the second half of 2017. The company projected an improved performance, over the X-Gene 2, that with allow it to better compete with servers using the x86-64 architecture.{{Cite web|date=2016-04-25|title=AppliedMicro's X-Gene 3 Aims for Intel's E5 Xeons|url=https://www.semiaccurate.com/2016/04/25/appliedmicros-x-gene-3-aims-for-intels-e5-xeons/|access-date=2021-03-18|website=SemiAccurate|language=en-US}}

In November 2016, MACOM Technology Solutions announced that they would purchase AppliedMicro.{{Cite news|url=http://www.lightreading.com/data-center/data-center-infrastructure/arms-race-who-will-buy-applied-micros-compute-unit/d/d-id/728526?_mc=RSS_LR_EDT|title=ARM's Race: Who Will Buy Applied Micro's Compute Unit? {{!}} Light Reading|newspaper=Light Reading|access-date=2016-11-24}} The acquisition was completed on January 26, 2017.{{cite press release|url=http://www.macom.com/about/news-and-events/press-release-archive/row-col1/news--event-archive/macom-successfully-completes-a-1|title=MACOM Successfully Completes Acquisition of AppliedMicro|date=January 26, 2017}} MACOM then sold the processor division to the private equity firm The Carlyle Group during October 2017.{{Cite web |last=Shilov |first=Anton |title=MACOM Sells AppliedMicro’s X-Gene CPU Business |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/11978/macom-sells-off-appliedmicros-xgene-cpu-business |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=www.anandtech.com}}

Memberships

AppliedMicro has a sponsor level membership of Power.org and is one of the original members.

AppliedMicro is also executive member (Chairman position) of the Ethernet Alliance.

AppliedMicro is also a member of the Open Compute Project.

Business groups

=Processor products=

Image:Gigabyte-MP30-AR1.jpg

The Processor Products group designed and marketed embedded microcontrollers as well as server processor, packet and storage processors. It included the network processors of former MMC Networks (acquired October 2000) with IBM PowerPC 4xx series microcontrollers (acquired April 2004).

Since acquiring the IBM PowerPC 400 family (marketed under the 405 and 440 series product names), AppliedMicro further developed the 460 series, which integrates the 440 CPU and multicore Power architecture devices.

In January 2008, the AppliedMicro PowerPC 405EX was awarded Product of the Year 2007, by Electronic Product magazine.

In October 2011, AppliedMicro announced its X-Gene Platform, an ARM 64-bit solution aimed at cloud and enterprise servers.{{Cite web |last=Vättö |first=Kristian |title=AppliedMicro Announces 64-bit ARM Based X-Gene SoCs |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/5027/appliedmicro-announces-xgene-arm-based-socs-for-cloud-computing |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=www.anandtech.com}}

=Connectivity products group=

The Connectivity Products group of AppliedMicro designs, manufacturers and markets physical layer devices, framers/mappers and switch fabric devices.

Acquisitions

Throughout the years, AppliedMicro has acquired smaller companies to enter new markets.

class="wikitable"
Date

! Acquired company

! Expertise

! Amount

April 1998

| Ten Mountain Design

| transceiver design

|

March 1999

| Cimaron Communications

| SONET chips

| $115M in stock

April 2000

| Yuni Networks

| terabit switch fabrics

| $241M in stock

April 2000

| Chameleon Technologies

| Fibre Channel and SONET products

|

April 2000

| PBaud Logic Inc.

| SONET and forward-error-correction

|

September 2000

| Silutia

| CMOS mixed-signal design

| 566,000 shares of stock

October 2000

| MMC Networks

| network processors

| $4500M in stock

March 2001

| Raleigh Technology Corporation (RTC)

| Ethernet QoS ASICs{{cite web|title=Company Overview of Raleigh Technology Corporation|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=657745|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610021200/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=657745|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2013|publisher=Bloomberg Businessweek|quote=Raleigh Technology Corporation designs, develops and markets application specific integrated circuits for Ethernet local-area network switches, routers, and gateways. The company's product is aimed at the higher priced, higher margin market for circuits with value-added features. The company's integrated circuits will let large firms with Ethernet local-area networks converge their voice, data, and video networks by providing guaranteed bandwidth to voice and video. |access-date=2 October 2012}}

|

September 2003

| PowerPRS product line from IBM

| switch fabrics

| $47M

December 2003

| JNI

| Fibre Channel products

| $196M in cash

April 2004

| PowerPC 400 series product line from IBM

| embedded microprocessors

| $227M in cash

April 2004

| 3ware

| RAID controllers

| $150M in cash

August 2006

| Quake Technologies

| 10 Gb Ethernet transceivers

| $69M in cash

Class-action lawsuit

In 2005, the company paid $60 million to settle a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors against the company, including current and former officers and directors.{{cite web|url=http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1152490 |title=Applied Micro Circuits settles lawsuit |date=January 2005 |access-date=Jul 24, 2013}} The suit had charged the company with issuing a series of materially false and misleading statements concerning the company's operations and prospects for Q4 2001 and beyond.{{cite web|title=Cauley Geller Bowman & Coates, LLP Announces Class Action Lawsuit Against Applied Micro Circuits Corporation Seeking Damages On Behalf of Investors - AMCC|url=http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2001/05/25/281273/17394/en/Cauley-Geller-Bowman-Coates-LLP-Announces-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Against-Applied-Micro-Circuits-Corporation-Seeking-Damages-On-Behalf-of-Investors-AMCC.html|publisher=Cauley Bowman Carney & Williams|access-date=8 January 2015|date=25 May 2001}} Under the terms of the settlement, the company and defendants denied any wrongdoing. About half of the amount of the settlement was covered by insurance.

References

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