Xilinx, which engages in the design, development, and marketing of programmable logic solutions, has seen some significant growth over the past couple of years. After placing 29th on our 2009 list of the top electronics employers, it improved to capture ninth in our 2010 edition. Among OEMs, Xilinx jumped from 11th place in 2009 to second place in 2010, falling just behind Synopsys.
The company offers advanced integrated circuits in the form of programmable logic devices (PLDs); software design tools to program the PLDs; predefined system functions as intellectual property (IP) cores; design services; customer training; and field engineering and technical support solutions. The PLDs include field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and complex programmable logic devices (CPLD), which customers program to perform desired logic functions, achieving greater design flexibility and cutting time-to-market.
As a “fabless” semiconductor company, Xilinx does not own or operate silicon wafer production facilities. Rather, it forms strategic alliances with chip manufacturers. This strategy allows Xilinx to focus on research and development, marketing, and technical support while having access to the most advanced chip processing technologies currently available.
67% of Xilinx’s sales are outside North America, and 47% comes from the communications segment. New products account for 36% of sales. In the PLD market, iSuppli estimates Xilinx holds a 52% share, with Altera its biggest competitor at 35%.
The company sells to OEMs such as Cisco, IBM, Raytheon, Samsung, and Sony as well as to electronic components distributors in the aerospace, automotive, computer, consumer electronics, medical, optical, networking, and communications markets.
Xilinx sells its products through independent domestic and foreign distributors, direct sales, a network of independent sales representative firms, and a direct sales management organization in North America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Japan. The company has operations in Ireland, Singapore, and the U.S., as well as sales offices worldwide.
Founded in 1984, Xilinx is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. Its chief competitors include Altera, Actel, and Lattice Semiconductor. Unlike many other companies in the recession, it held the line in key areas, with a 0.9% dip in sales and in R&D funding from 2008 to 2009 as well as a 5.0% improvement in pretax income.
However, Xilinx did not publish its current 10K until June 1, so the data included in our rankings is fiscal 2009 (as of March 28, 2009) versus fiscal 2008. Fiscal 2010 (as of April 3, 2010) versus fiscal 2009 data shows no change in sales, an 8.0% loss in pretax income, and a 4.0% gain in R&D funding, though that gain was primarily due to increased expenses associated with the rollout of 40-nm products.
European sales were particularly strong during the first quarter of 2010, increasing 25% sequentially. Consumer and automotive sales increased 5% sequentially, driven by strength in automotive and audio/video broadcast applications. Communications sales are up, driven by strength in wireline and wireless communications. Industrial and other is expected to increase, driven by defense and test and measurement.
Across the semiconductor industry, the customer demand side of the business has been very healthy. This improved end market outlook is encouraging, as the new 65-, 40-, and 45-nm yields are poised to grow significantly. Backlog is up as well, as Xilinx is seeing continued strength from its Virtex-5 family, in addition to strong growth from its new Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 families.
With increasing frequency, advanced technology node PLD platforms are replacing application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and some selective application-specific standard product (ASSP) solutions.
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