Vitesse Semiconductor: A Fabless Semiconductor Company

Vitessse Semiconductor was a fabless American semiconductor company that continued to operate as an independent company until June 2015. The company thrived in the industry of communication equipment and has created innovations that made a difference in the electronic products that we make use today. The company was once listed as one of the components of the Wilshire 5000 Index.

The company was created in 1984 as Vitesse Electronics Corporation. The inception of the business was the brainchild of some of the executives from Rockwell International, which received fundings of more than $30 million from the Norton Corporation. It was in 1987 that the business adopted the corporate name Vitnesse Semiconductor. By that time, the company has already received additional fundings from investors Sequioa Capital and New Enterprise Associates. It is worth noting that the company was among the first semiconductor companies to develop Gallium Arsenide based integrated circuits.

The offerings of Vitnesse Semiconductor were used in communication. It offered Ethernet switching products that are used in access network equipment, customer-premises equipment, mobile access equipment, fiber and microwave wireless backhaul equipment and wireless base stations. It also offers Ethernet switches that enable workgroup, desktop and LAN infrastructure. Through the company’s strategic approach in acquiring competing businesses, it dramatically grew its operations. Among the companies acquired by the business are XaQti in 1999 and Orologic and Sitera in 2000.

In March 2015, it was announced that the business was purchased by Microsemi Corporation. It was around June 2015 that the acquisition was closed. Subsequent to the closing of the deal, the company’s common shares were delisted on the NASDAQ. Vitesse Semiconductor now operates as part of Microsemi Corporation. The latter continues to offer a wide range of semiconductor solutions that are used in communication, defense and security, industrial, aerospace and in other high-performance markets. Microsemi Corporation is currently headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.