Sony Semiconductor Israel

File:Altair Sony.png

Altair was founded in May 2005 by former Texas Instruments executives Oded Melamed, Yigal Bitran, and Eran Eshed, with extensive broadband and wireless silicon experience. Altair's management and technology executives were among the founding team of Libit Signal Processing, a fabless chip company acquired by Texas Instruments in 1999 for $365 million.{{cite web|url= http://www.insidechips.com/public/7659.cfm|title= "Altair Semiconductor Profile," Inside Chips, April 21, 2008|access-date= 2011-01-20|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110713040114/http://www.insidechips.com/public/7659.cfm|archive-date= 2011-07-13|url-status= dead}}

As of 2013, Altair was privately held, and had raised in excess of $120M financing.{{cite web|url= http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000858612|title= "4G LTE chipset co Altair Semiconductor raises $25m," Globes, July 1, 2013}}

The company has a long history of developing 4G semiconductor solutions and prior to strategically shifting full focus to 3GPP LTE in 2006,{{cite web|url= http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/altair-semi-co-founder-wimax-just-isnt-happening/37272|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100731230159/http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/altair-semi-co-founder-wimax-just-isnt-happening/37272|url-status= dead|archive-date= July 31, 2010|title= "Altair Semi co-founder: WiMax 'just isn't happening'," ZDnet, July 28, 2010|website= ZDNet}} had developed solutions for WiMAX and Japanese XGP standards. In January 2016 it was announced that Sony was acquiring Altair for $212 Million.

In 2019, Nohik Semel became the CEO of the company, replacing Oded Melamed.

LTE has emerged as the de facto 4G (4th Generation) technology, after having won the battle over rival technology WiMAX, which failed to gain global carrier acceptance and critical deployment mass. As data usage minutes are on a steep increase vector, and voice ARPU (Average revenue per user) remain flat, carriers face a need to offer advanced and cost effective mobile broadband services which will offset the profitability decline and increase customer satisfaction.

According to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), 338 telecoms operators in 101 countries have committed to commercial LTE network deployments or are engaged in trials, technology testing or studies.{{cite web|url=http://www.gsacom.com/news/gsa_355.php|title= "GSA confirms LTE investments by telecoms operators in more than 100 countries", GSA, Q4 2013}} LTE networks are already fully deployed in key markets such as the U.S. and South Korea. Analysts forecast the number of LTE subscribers worldwide to reach 1B subscribers by 2016.{{cite web|url= http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-lte-subscribers-hit-198m-2013-then-skyrocket-1b-2016/2013-01-23|title= "Report: LTE subscribers to hit 198M in 2013, then skyrocket to 1B in 2016", Fierce Wireless, January 23, 2013}}

In addition to connecting the consumer device market, LTE has the potential to push forward the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT). As of 2013, the internet had about 10–15 billion devices connected to it.{{cite web |title="Point of View: The Internet of Everything", Cisco, 2012 |url=http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/innov/IoE.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228121655/http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/innov/IoE.pdf |archive-date=2013-02-28}} Industry experts predict some 25 billion devices will be connected by 2015, and 50 billion by 2020.{{cite web|url=http://share.cisco.com/internet-of-things.html |title="Cisco Visualizations: The Internet of Things", Cisco |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409003453/http://share.cisco.com/internet-of-things.html |archive-date=2014-04-09 }} Many of these connections, whether consumer, enterprise, industrial, or other will require Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) connections, and given the connectivity requirements, a majority of these connection could be via LTE networks.

• In November 2009, Altair announced the first commercial grade LTE User equipment (UE) based on its FourGee-3100.{{cite web|url=http://mobiledevdesign.com/technologies/lte-usb-expresscard-supports-category-3-speeds|title="LTE USB ExpressCard Supports Category 3 Speeds,"Mobile Dev Design, November 6, 2009}}
• In October 2011, Altair achieved the world's fastest Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE) speed demonstration (download speeds of more than 100 Mbit/s) in a live over-the-air demonstration with Japanese carrier SoftBank.{{cite web|url= http://www.mobilitytechzone.com/topics/4g-wirelessevolution/articles/225802-softbank-mobile-uses-lte-chipset-from-altair-semiconductor.htm |title= "Softbank Mobile Uses LTE Chipset from Altair Semiconductor," Mobility TechZone, October 5, 2011}}
• In August 2012, Altair was certified by Verizon Wireless to operate on Verizon's 4G LTE network.{{cite web|url= http://gigaom.com/2012/08/28/verizon-certifies-its-first-chip-vendor-because-m2m-will-rock-the-world/

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130217020952/http://gigaom.com/2012/08/28/verizon-certifies-its-first-chip-vendor-because-m2m-will-rock-the-world/

|url-status= dead

|archive-date= February 17, 2013

|title= "Verizon certifies its first chip vendor because M2M will rock the world," Gigaom, August 28, 2012}}

• In September 2012, SK Telecom, Ericsson and Altair demoed the world's first handover technology that supports both FDD and TDD on one device.{{cite web|url=http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/mobile-lte-fddtdd-handover-demoed-skt-ericsson-and-altair/2012-09-19|title= "Mobile LTE FDD/TDD handover demoed by SKT, Ericsson and Altair," FierceWireless, September 19, 2012}}
• In February 2013, Altair announced the launch of its FourGee-3800/6300 chipset.{{cite web|url=http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/consumer-electronics/altair-semiconductors-4g-chip-bet-pays-off.html|title= "MAltair Semiconductor's 4G Chip Bet Pays Off," TMCNet, February 26, 2013}}
• In November 2013, Verizon Wireless selected Altair's chipset to power its own Ellipsis 7 tablet.{{cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2427230,00.asp|title="The Era of LTE-Only Tablets Begins With", PCMag, November 18, 2013}}
• In January 2014, it was announced that Altair's chipset was at the core of the HP Chromebook 11 LTE.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-altair-hp-4g-idUSBREA0E0N620140115|title="HP, Google select Altair's chip for LTE-only Chromebook," Reuters January 15, 2014|website=Reuters }}

Altair's product portfolio includes baseband processors, multi-band RF transceivers, and a range of reference hardware and product level protocol stack software conforming to 3GPP LTE standards.{{cite web|url= http://www.altair-semi.com/|title= "Altair Product Portfolio," Altair Semiconductor Website }}

Altair products are based on proprietary Software-Defined Radio (SDR) {{cite web |url= http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2010/07/09/49008/ipwireless-uses-altair-software-defined-radio-in-lte-devices.htm |title= "IPWireless uses Altair software defined radio in LTE devices," Electronics Weekly, July 9, 2010 |access-date= 2011-01-20 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130121225914/http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2010/07/09/49008/ipwireless-uses-altair-software-defined-radio-in-lte-devices.htm |archive-date= 2013-01-21 |url-status= dead }} and are small and power-optimized. They support both FDD and TDD in any worldwide LTE frequency band.{{cite web|url= http://lteworld.org/news/interview-eran-eshed-altair-lte-developments-trends|title= "Interview with Eran Eshed of Altair on LTE developments & trends," LTE World, July 8, 2010}} The chipsets can be used in a range of consumer products, including tablets, netbooks, USB modems, CPEs, Smartphones as well as Machine to Machine (m2m) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Baseband Processors {{cite web|url=http://altair-semi.com/product/fourgee-3100-6202/|title= "Products," Altair Semiconductor Website}}

• FourGee-3100 is a Category 3 (100 Mbit/s) LTE baseband/RF transceiver chipset solution conforming to 3GPP Release 9 LTE specifications
• FourGee-3800 is a Category 4 (150 Mbit/s) LTE baseband/RF transceiver chipset solution conforming to 3GPP Releases 9, 10 and 11 LTE-Advanced specifications
• FourGee-3802 is a Category 6 (300 Mbit/s) LTE baseband/RF transceiver chipset solution conforming to 3GPP Releases 9, 10 and 11 LTE-Advanced specifications

RF Transceivers {{cite web|url= http://www.altair-semi.com/4g-rf-transceivers|title= "4G RF Transceivers," Altair Semiconductor Website|access-date= 2011-01-20|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707120414/http://www.altair-semi.com/4g-rf-transceivers|archive-date= 2011-07-07|url-status= dead}}

• FourGee-6202 is a multi-band LTE-FDD & TDD MIMO transceiver that supports frequency bands between 400 and 2700 MHz
• FourGee-6300 is a multi-band LTE-FDD & TDD MIMO transceiver that supports frequency bands between 400 and 3800 MHz

Reference Platforms {{cite web|url= http://altair-semi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Product-page_lte_3100-6202.pdf|title= "LTE Reference Designs," Altair Semiconductor Website|access-date= 2014-03-31|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131216024049/http://altair-semi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Product-page_lte_3100-6202.pdf|archive-date= 2013-12-16|url-status= dead}}

• LTE

Historical Platforms

• FourGee-2150/6150 is a mobile WiMAX baseband/RFIC chipset which implements full mobile WiMAX, Mobility System Profile Wave-2 MAC/PHY feature-set
• FourGee-4150 is compliant with the PHS MoU eXtended Global Platform (XGP) 4G standard, and implements full PHY/MAC functionality

In 2008, Altair won a Best of WIMAX World award in the category of chip design.{{cite web|url= http://www.vision2mobile.com/news/2008/10/best-of-wimax-world-awards-honor-leaders-in-innov.aspx|title= "Best of WIMAX World Awards Honor Leaders in Innovation," Vision2Mobile, October 2, 2008|access-date= 2011-01-20|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110717220235/http://www.vision2mobile.com/news/2008/10/best-of-wimax-world-awards-honor-leaders-in-innov.aspx|archive-date= 2011-07-17|url-status= dead}}

In 2012, Altair was selected as a finalist for the Red Herring Top 100 Europe award, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the European business region.{{cite web|url= http://www.redherring.com/events/red-herring-europe/2012-red-herring-europe-finalists/|title= Red Herring Europe 2012 Finalists}}

In 2013, Altair won the LTE North America award for Best Chipset of Processor Product.{{cite web|url= http://northamerica.lteawards.com/2013-winners/|title= "LTE Awards 2013 Winners" November 19, 2014}}

In 2014, Altair was once again selected as a finalist for the Red Herring Top 100 Europe award.{{cite web|url= http://www.redherring.com/events/red-herring-europe/2014finalists/|title= Red Herring Europe 2012 Finalists}}

• [http://www.altair-semi.com/ Altair Semiconductor Homepage]
• [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-28/israeli-startup-s-formula-for-breaking-into-mobile-forget-the-iphone.html Israeli Startup's Formula for Breaking Into Mobile: Forget the IPhone – Bloomberg]
• [https://venturebeat.com/2013/07/01/altair-semiconductor-raises-25m-for-cheap-efficient-lte-chipsets/ Altair Semiconductor raises $25M for cheap, efficient LTE chipsets – VentureBeat]
• [https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/24/h-p-chromebook-points-to-trends-in-chips-patents/ H-P Chromebook Points to Trends in Chips, Patents – Wall Street Journal]
• [http://mwrf.com/semiconductors/interview-eran-eshed-co-founder-altair-semiconductor Interview: Eran Eshed, Co-Founder, Altair Semiconductor – Microwaves & RF]
• [http://lteworld.org/news/interview-eran-eshed-altair-lte-developments-trends Interview with Eran Eshed of Altair on LTE developments & trends – LTE World]
• [http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?Src=RSS&docid=160690222 Movers & Shakers Interview with Eran Eshed, Co-founder and VP of Marketing and Business Development, Altair Semiconductor – Frost & Sullivan]

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Category:Semiconductor companies of Israel

Category:Fabless semiconductor companies

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Category:2016 mergers and acquisitions

Category:Electronics companies established in 2005

Category:Israeli companies established in 2005

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