DiBcom

DiBcom, founded in 2000 by Yannick Lévy and Guillaume Goscini, was a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Palaiseau, France. The company specialized in designing and marketing System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions for low-power mobile and fixed digital television (DTV) and radio reception. DiBcom's products were designed for a variety of devices, including mobile phones, PCs, automotive applications, and other portable devices, enabling them to receive digital broadcast signals.

The core of DiBcom's offering was its highly integrated chipsets that supported multiple digital broadcasting standards such as DVB-T, DVB-H, DVB-SH, T-DMB, and ISDB-T. These chips were known for their high performance in mobile environments, capable of maintaining clear reception even at high speeds, a feature demonstrated by receiving TV signals in a Ferrari driven by Michael Schumacher. The company's business model was fabless, meaning it focused on the design and marketing of its chips while outsourcing the manufacturing process to semiconductor foundries. Its clients were original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) who integrated DiBcom's chips into their end products.

In a significant milestone, DiBcom was acquired by Parrot, a company specializing in wireless mobile telephony devices, in September 2011 for a total of 13.7 million euros. This acquisition was a strategic move for Parrot to integrate DiBcom's DTV reception technology into its own product lines, particularly for automotive infotainment systems. Prior to its acquisition, DiBcom had raised significant venture capital funding from firms like Ginko Ventures, Crédit Lyonnais Private Equity, Naxicap, C-Source, Intel Capital, and UMC Capital. After the acquisition, DiBcom's technology continued to be developed and integrated under the Parrot brand.

Keywords: fabless semiconductor, mobile digital TV, DVB-T, System-on-Chip, automotive infotainment, DVB-H, broadcast reception, ISDB-T, Parrot S.A., demodulator