Cicada Semiconductor

About Cicada Semiconductor

Cicada Semiconductor Inc. was a fabless semiconductor company established in Austin, Texas, in 1996. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of advanced mixed-signal and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) based integrated circuits for high-speed digital communications. Its product portfolio was aimed at developers of high-speed communications systems, particularly for local area networks (LANs).

The company's core business involved developing silicon solutions that enabled gigabit-per-second digital communications over existing copper cable infrastructure and legacy fiber optic links. Cicada's offerings included transceivers and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions designed to enhance the capacity and performance of data communication and telecommunication networks. A key product line was the SimpliPHY family of quad and single-port Gigabit Ethernet transceivers, which the company was shipping in volume to customers by 2002. These products were crucial for the market's transition from 10/100-megabit-per-second networks to higher-speed Gigabit Ethernet.

Cicada Semiconductor successfully navigated several rounds of venture funding to fuel its growth and product development. In July 2000, it secured its first round of $15 million, led by Sevin Rosen Funds, with participation from investors like ESM Investments and Perot Investments. A subsequent third financing round in August 2002 raised an additional $17.4 million, bringing its total funding to approximately $37 million to expand product development and marketing efforts. This financial backing enabled significant operational expansion, including a relocation to a larger 10,000-square-foot headquarters in Austin to accommodate growth in its engineering, R&D, and sales departments.

The company's trajectory culminated in its acquisition by Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. in a cash transaction valued at approximately $65.5 to $66 million, announced in late 2003 and completed in the first quarter of 2004. At the time of the acquisition, Cicada and Vitesse had already been collaborating for over a year, jointly selling gigabit speed switch solutions that combined Vitesse's LAN switches with Cicada's Gigabit Ethernet copper transceivers. Following the acquisition, Cicada Semiconductor operated as a subsidiary of Vitesse.