Magnum Semiconductor

About Magnum Semiconductor

Magnum Semiconductor was a video compression technology company that operated from its founding in 2003 until its acquisition in 2016. The company was established as a spinout from the Cirrus Logic Video Division, which was known for developing MPEG video recording technologies for consumer DVD recorders. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, with an engineering branch in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Magnum specialized in producing semiconductor products, including silicon, modules, software, and intellectual property for the professional broadcast market.

The company's offerings targeted both professional and consumer markets, providing hardware, software, and reference platforms for digital video recording, playback, and content management. Magnum's technology was integral to the video content creation and distribution chain, from production and contribution to distribution over cable, satellite, IPTV, and over-the-top (OTT) video streaming. In 2007, Magnum significantly expanded its portfolio by acquiring the consumer products division of LSI Corporation, which included the Domino and Zevio video compression technologies. A notable leadership change occurred in February 2008 when Gopal Solanki, formerly of Nvidia, took over as CEO.

Over its lifetime, Magnum Semiconductor successfully raised significant capital, amounting to over $137 million from various investors such as August Capital, Investcorp, and Investor Growth Capital. The company's journey concluded in April 2016 when it was acquired by GigOptix for approximately $55 million in a cash and stock transaction. Following the acquisition, the combined entity was rebranded as GigPeak, Inc., uniting GigOptix's high-speed networking portfolio with Magnum's expertise in video compression and analytics to create solutions for high-speed connectivity and high-quality video streaming. GigPeak itself was later acquired by Integrated Device Technology in 2017.