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National Semiconductor Corporation
Type	Public (NYSE: NSM)
Founded	1959
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, USA
Key people	Brian L. Halla, Chairman and CEO
Industry	Semiconductors
Products	Semiconductors
Employees	7,600
Website	www.national.com

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA, National Semiconductor (commonly referred to as "National"), specializes in high-performance, energy-efficient analog devices and subsystems.

One of the largest semiconductor manufacturers, National's product portfolio includes power management, audio and operational amplifiers, communication interface products, display drivers and data conversion solutions. National's integrated circuits, ICs, enable high-fidelity sound and vivid displays as well as maximize energy efficiency in numerous electronic systems. Its key markets include wireless handsets, displays and a variety of electronics markets, including medical, automotive, industrial, and test and measurement applications.

National was founded on May 27, 1959 in Danbury, Connecticut, USA by several engineers who came from Sperry Rand Corporation. National relocated its corporate headquarters to Santa Clara, California, USA in 1967. Over the years, National acquired several companies like Fairchild Semiconductor (in 1987), and Cyrix (in 1997). However, over time, National spun off these acquisitions to focus on analog technology. Fairchild Semiconductor became a separate company again in 1997, and the Cyrix microprocessors division was sold to VIA Technologies of Taiwan in 1999. National's Information Appliance Division was sold to AMD in 2002. Other businesses (primarily digital) such as wireless chipsets, image sensors and PC I/O chipsets have been closed down or sold off as National has established itself as an analog semiconductor company.

Throughout its product portfolio, National's ICs maximize energy efficiency by generating less heat, having a smaller energy footprint, and, in portable devices, enabling longer battery life. National's PowerWise® family of products includes a host of ICs with outstanding performance-to-power ratios. Its PowerWise brand enables design engineers to easily identify optimal solutions for their energy-efficient systems. Products

Power Management: National is a world leader in power management and specializes in sub-1V to 100V system-level solutions that provide a combination of performance/efficiency, thermal management, and board space savings. National introduced the industry's first LDO (low dropout) linear regulator and the innovative Simple Switcher® products that transformed power supply design and improved time to market. National's power portfolio is unique in both depth and breadth, featuring power management switchers and controllers, Power-over-Ethernet interfaces, battery charger ICs, highly integrated subsystems, and lighting management for everything from cell phone "fun lights" to rugged automotive applications.

Operational Amplifiers: National offers a host of high-speed and low-power amplifiers. Its LMH® amplifiers are based on patented, proprietary VIP10 processes. National's proprietary VIP50 process is a silicon-on-insulator BiCMOS process optimized for operational amplifier applications. National's comprehensive amplifier portfolio of building-block products and application-specific standard amplifier products includes cutting-edge precision amplifiers as well as low-voltage and low-power products.

Audio Amplifiers: National's Boomer® audio amplifiers enhance and enrich the entire range of sound in portable devices - from voice to ringtones to music. The company manufactures high-fidelity Class AB and Class D speaker drivers and headphone amplifiers, as well as audio subsystems for portable handsets, DVD players, MP3 players, multimedia displays, and other portable electronic devices. National's high-performance series brings dramatically improved sound quality to high-fidelity consumer, professional audio equipment, as well as prosumer distributed audio and musical instruments.

Communications Interface: As the low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) technology innovator and market leader, National offers interconnect solutions for transferring high-speed digital signals using world-class analog technology. These solutions help system designers develop high-performance data transmission and clock distribution applications in a variety of market segments, including communications and industrial. These products feature high reliability and signal integrity, low power, low noise, and dramatic systems savings in cable and connector costs.

Data Conversion: National specializes in the lowest-power, highest-speed, and smallest analog-to-digital converters. National enables sharper images and portability for a broad range of communications, medical imaging, test and measurement, and consumer video applications.

National's manufacturing sites are in the USA (Arlington, Texas and South Portland, Maine), Europe (Greenock, Scotland) and Asia (Melaka, Malaysia and India,Suzhou, China). The company has more than 30 design centers and sales offices around the world.

Each of National's manufacturing sites is ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified, and its products are lead free. The company has received numerous awards for its health and safety programs including the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program Star Award and a Gold Medal from the U.K. Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). National established its charitable foundation in 2000 and provides grants to health and human service organizations in its primary regions as well as schools and universities. Its Science in Action initiative funds and encourages inquiry-based science in classrooms.

• Official site
• National Semiconductor at chipdb.org

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