Cavium#ThunderX2 SoCs

{{Short description|American fabless semiconductor company}}

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{{Update|inaccurate=yes|date=August 2012}}

{{primary sources|date=August 2012}}

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{{Infobox company

| name = Cavium, Inc.

| logo =

| type = Public

| traded_as = {{NASDAQ was|CAVM}}

| key_people = Syed Ali (president & CEO)
Raghib Hussain (COO)

| fate = Acquired by Marvell Technology Group

| founder = Raghib Hussain

| defunct = {{End date|2018|07|06}}

| industry = Processors and boards

| products = Microprocessors, boards

| num_employees = 850{{cite news |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2011/07/08/cavium-networks-returns-to-san-jose.html?page=all |title=Cavium Networks Inc. returns to San Jose |access-date=2015-01-08 |publisher=Silicon Valley Business News |date=8 July 2011}}

| website = [https://www.cavium.com www.cavium.com]

| foundation = {{start date and age|2000}}

| location_city = San Jose, California

| location_country = United States

}}

Cavium, Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company based in San Jose, California,{{Cite web |title=Cavium {{!}} Company Overview & News |url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/cavium/ |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=Forbes |language=en}} specializing in ARM-based and MIPS-based network, video and security processors and SoCs.[https://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/cavium-networks-inc/index.html New York Times Company Profile for Cavium Inc.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305013809/https://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/cavium-networks-inc/index.html |date=March 5, 2016 }} The company was co-founded in 2000{{Cite web |last=Aslam |first=Haroon |date=2017-11-24 |title=NED alumnus sells company to chip-maker Marvell for $6bn |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1372600/ned-alumnus-sells-company-to-chip-maker-marvell-for-6bn |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=Dawn}}{{Cite web |last=Azevedo |first=Mary Ann |date=2011-07-08 |title=Cavium Networks Inc. returns to San Jose |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/print-edition/2011/07/08/cavium-networks-returns-to-san-jose.html |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Timothy Prickett |date=2016-06-17 |title=Cavium Buys Access To Enterprise With QLogic Deal |url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2016/06/17/cavium-buys-access-enterprise-qlogic-deal/ |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=The Next Platform |language=en-US}} by Syed B. Ali and M. Raghib Hussain,{{Cite web|url=https://techober.com/2017/11/cavium-gets-acquired-6-billion/|title=Syed Ali's company Cavium gets acquired for $6 billion|website=techober.com|date=24 November 2017|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-24}} who were introduced to each other by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Cavium offers processor- and board-level products targeting routers, switches, appliances, storage and servers.

The company went public in May 2007 with about 175 employees. As of 2011, following numerous acquisitions, it had about 850 employees worldwide, of whom about 250 were located at company headquarters in San Jose.

Cavium was acquired by Marvell Technology Group on July 6, 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/13055/marvell-completes-acquisition-of-cavium-gets-cpu-networking-security-assets|title=Marvell Completes Acquisition of Cavium, Gets CPU, Networking & Security Assets|last=Shilov|first=Anton|website=www.anandtech.com|access-date=2019-09-01}}

History

=Name change=

On June 17, 2011, Cavium Networks, Inc. changed their name to Cavium, Inc.http://biz.yahoo.com/e/110620/cavm8-k.html {{dead link|date=August 2012}}

=Acquisitions by Cavium=

class="wikitable"
Date

! Acquired company

! Historical product line

August 2008

| Star Semiconductor

|ARM-based systems-on-chip processors{{Cite press release |url=http://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_STAR_Acquisition.html |title=Cavium Networks Completes Acquisition of Taiwan-Based Star Semiconductor |website=cavium.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011220607/http://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_STAR_Acquisition.html |archive-date=October 11, 2008}}

December 2008

| W&W Communications

| Video compression software and hardware{{Cite web|url=https://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_W&W_Acquisition.html|title=Cavium Networks Completes Acquisition of W&W Communications|website=cavium.com|access-date=2020-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613001721/http://cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_W%26W_Acquisition.html|archive-date=2016-06-13|url-status=dead}}

December 2009

|MontaVista Software

|Carrier Grade Linux compliant Linux & embedded systems{{Cite press release|url=https://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_MontaVista_Acquisition-Completes.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612234112/https://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Caviumnetworks_MontaVista_Acquisition-Completes.html|title=Cavium Networks Completes Acquisition of MontaVista Software {{!}} embedded virtualization|date=December 18, 2009|archive-date=2016-06-12}}

January 2011{{cite news|last=McGrath|first=Dylan|title=Cavium buys Chinese fabless chip firm|url=https://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4212723/Cavium-buys-Chinese-fabless-chip-firm-|access-date=17 February 2011|newspaper=EE Times|date=31 January 2011}}

| Celestial Semiconductor

|SoCs for digital media applications, including satellite, cable, and Internet TV{{cite web|title=Company Overview|url=http://www.celestialsemi.com/english/profiles/Introduction/|publisher=Celestial Semiconductor|access-date=17 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309202935/https://www.celestialsemi.com/english/profiles/Introduction/ |archive-date=2011-03-09}}

February 2011

|Wavesat Telecommunications

|Semiconductor solutions for carrier and mobile device manufacturers{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

July 2014

| Xpliant, Inc.

| Switching and SDN Specialist{{Cite press release|url=https://www.cavium.com/newsevents-Cavium-to-Acquire-Switching-and-SDN-Specialist-Xpliant-to-Accelerate-Deployment-of-Software-Defined-Networks.html|title=Cavium to Acquire Switching and SDN Specialist Xpliant to Accelerate Deployment of Software Defined Networks|access-date=2019-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803082412/http://cavium.com/newsevents-Cavium-to-Acquire-Switching-and-SDN-Specialist-Xpliant-to-Accelerate-Deployment-of-Software-Defined-Networks.html|archive-date=2017-08-03|url-status=dead}}

June 2016

|QLogic, Inc.

| Ethernet and Storage Specialist{{Cite press release |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cavium-acquire-qlogic-200000720.html |title=Company press release: Cavium to Acquire QLogic – Opportunity to drive significant growth at scale in data center and storage markets |access-date=2017-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114063433/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cavium-acquire-qlogic-200000720.html |archive-date=2017-01-14 |url-status=dead }}

=Acquisition of Cavium=

In November 2017, Cavium's board of directors agreed to the company's purchase by Marvell Technology Group for $6 billion in cash and stock.{{cite news|last1=Palladino|first1=Valentina|title=Marvell Technology to buy chipmaker Cavium for about $6 billion|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/marvell-technology-strikes-deal-to-buy-chipmaker-cavium-for-6-billion/|access-date=20 November 2017|publisher=Ars Technica|date=20 November 2017}} The merger was finalized on July 6, 2018.

=NSA Interference=

On March 23, 2022, Cavium was named{{cite web |last1=Applebaum |first1=J. R. |title=Communication in a world of pervasive surveillance |url=https://pure.tue.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/197416841/20220325_Appelbaum_hf.pdf |access-date=19 September 2023}} as an NSA "enabled" CPU vendor in a PhD thesis titled "Communication in a world of pervasive surveillance". The "enabled" term refers to a process with which a chip vendor has a backdoor introduced into their designs.

Products

Cavium began selling security processors in late 2001 with the Nitrox line. The processor had support for features like IPsec, SSL, intrusion-detection services as well as VPNs. In 2004 the company launched the Octeon processor, which was using a 64-bit MIPS instruction set. At launch Cavium offered Octeon processors with two, four eight or sixteen cores.{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-16 |date=2004-09-14 |title=Cavium Move May Spell End For 'Security Processor' Market |publisher=networkcomputing.com |url=https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-security/cavium-move-may-spell-end-for-security-processor-market}} In 2012, the company announced a 1-48 core MIPS-procesoor from the Octeon-line.{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-16 |date=2012-02-07 |title=Cavium Intros Octeon III |publisher=lightreading.com |url=https://www.lightreading.com/semiconductors/cavium-intros-octeon-iii}} In 2014, the company announced the ThunderX, a 48 core server SoC based on the ARMv8 architecture.{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-16 |date=2014-06-03 |title=Cavium Introduces ThunderX |publisher=design-reuse.com |url=https://www.design-reuse.com/news/34726/cavium-thunderx-48-core-processor.html}}{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-16 |date=2016-06-15 |title=Investigating Cavium's ThunderX: The First ARM Server SoC With Ambition |publisher=anandtech.com |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/10353/investigating-cavium-thunderx-48-arm-cores}} Cavium also offered ethernet switches that were produced in cooperation with Xpliant since 2014.{{cite web|access-date=2024-08-16 |date=2014-09-16 |title=Cavium and XPliant Introduce a Fully Programmable Switch Silicon Family Scaling to 3.2 Terabits per Second |publisher=design-reuse.com |url=https://www.design-reuse.com/news/35432/cavium-xpliant-ethernet-switch-chip.html}}

References