Cirrus Logic
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductor |
| Predecessor | Patil Systems, Inc. |
| Founded | January 1, 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Founder | Suhas Patil |
| Headquarters | Austin , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | John Forsyth (CEO) |
| Products | Analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits (ICs) |
| Website | www |
Cirrus Logic Inc. is a U.S.-based fabless semiconductor firm that focuses on the design of analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits (ICs). Since 1998, the company has been headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The company's audio converters and processors play a crucial role in a variety of consumer entertainment devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, digital headsets, automotive infotainment systems, home theater receivers, and smart home products such as smart speakers. Cirrus Logic supports a client base exceeding 3,200 companies, among them Ford, Harman International, LG, Lenovo, Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Apple, and Vizio. Significantly, Apple represented 89% of Cirrus Logic’s revenue in 2025.
Originally established as "Patil Systems, Inc." in Salt Lake City in 1981 by Suhas Patil, the company adopted the name "Cirrus Logic" after relocating to Silicon Valley in 1984.
The firm possesses over 3,900 patents that are either granted or pending.
History
Patil Systems, Inc. was created in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1981 by Suhas Patil. In 1983, Patil joined forces with Kamran Elahian and venture capitalist Fred Nazem to restructure the company with initial funding provided by Nazem and Company. The organization was renamed Cirrus Logic when it moved to Silicon Valley in 1984 to capitalize on the growing market for PC components. Michael Hackworth held the roles of president and CEO from January 1985 until February 1999. Cirrus Logic became a publicly traded company on Nasdaq in 1989 under the ticker symbol CRUS.
In 1991, Cirrus Logic expanded its product line by acquiring Crystal Semiconductor, boosting its offerings in analog and mixed-signal converter ICs. By the early 1990s, the company was delivering PC graphics chips along with audio converters and magnetic storage components. David D. French joined as president and COO in June 1998 before ascending to CEO in February 1999. Under French’s guidance and through strategic acquisitions, Cirrus Logic redirected its focus toward high-performance analog and digital processing ICs tailored for consumer entertainment electronics. The addition of M. Yousuf Palla as Vice President of Operations and Manufacturing further enhanced operational capabilities.
In April 2000, Cirrus Logic relocated its headquarters to Austin, Texas. The company sold its video products division in June 2005 to form Magnum Semiconductor. Following French’s departure in March 2007, Jason Rhode—formerly Vice President and General Manager of the Mixed Signal Audio Division—assumed the CEO position in May 2007.
Cirrus Logic grew through acquisitions such as Wolfson Microelectronics for about $467 million in 2014 and Lion Semiconductor for $335 million in 2021, strengthening its presence in audio and power management sectors. Additionally, the company has supported STEM education initiatives by partnering with the Ann Richards School and pledging $10,000 annually over three years to back a robotics team that expanded from 10 members in 2023 to 30 members by 2024.
Ambient Technologies
In early 1999, Cirrus Logic divested its successful PC Modem business unit by spinning it off as Ambient Technologies. Intel acquired Ambient Technologies in early 2000 and integrated it into their operations as the "Modem Silicon Operation" division.
Chronology of Major Milestones
- 1981 – Dr. Suhas Patil established Patil Systems Inc. in Salt Lake City, concentrating on integrated circuit solutions for personal computer components.
- 1984 – Company rebranded as Cirrus Logic and shifted its main office to Silicon Valley.
- 1989 – Completed initial public offering on Nasdaq, trading under the symbol CRUS.
- 1991 – Acquired Crystal Semiconductor, a company specializing in analog and mixed-signal converter integrated circuits.
- 1992 – Purchased Acumos Inc.
- 1994 – Expanded MiCRUS operations through a collaborative venture with IBM.
- 1995 – Entered a $600 million joint manufacturing partnership with AT&T Microelectronics (later Agere Systems).
- 1995 – Established a joint development agreement with Advanced Telecommunications Modules, Ltd.
- 1998 – Divested from the PC graphics card market.
- 1998 – David D. French appointed president and COO in June; elevated to CEO by February 1999. Later that year, the communications business unit was separated.
- 1999 – Collaborated with Microsoft on the Maverick™ chip series.
- 1999 – Formed a partnership with Rockwell International to develop system-on-a-chip ICs based on ARM cores aimed at industrial automation applications.
- 2000 – Relocated corporate headquarters to Austin, Texas.
- 2001 – Began withdrawing from magnetic storage chip production; acquired startups in video decoding/encoding, wireless networking, and digital audio sectors.
- 2003 – Ceased wireless networking operations.
- 2005 – Sold video product assets, leading to the creation of Magnum Semiconductor; retained a minority ownership stake.
- 2006 – Co-developed an HD-AVR reference design in collaboration with Genesis Microchip Inc.
- 2007 – Jason Rhode succeeded French as president and CEO; acquisitions included Apex Microtechnology (specializing in industrial and aerospace high-power products) and Tripath (audio chip manufacturer).
- 2012 – Spun off hybrid product line as Apex Microtechnology; relocated remaining Tucson team to Austin. Awarded Distributor Partnership Award to DigiKey.
- 2014 – Acquired Wolfson Microelectronics, a UK-based firm renowned for audio integrated circuits.
- 2018 – Secured a contract with Apple to supply active noise cancellation chips for the upcoming AirPods generation.
- 2019 – Became a strategic partner of Silicon Catalyst incubator supporting semiconductor startups.
- 2021 – Leadership transition: Jason Rhode stepped down; John Forsyth promoted from chief strategy officer to CEO. Partnered with Elliptic to enhance the CS35L45 smart amplifier utilizing AI Virtual Smart Sensor Platform.
Graphics Evolution
During the early 1990s, Cirrus Logic provided affordable graphics chips for PCs, with its Windows 2D GUI accelerators ranking among the fastest in the entry-level segment, surpassing rivals like Oak Technologies and Trident Microsystems. The 1992 Cirrus GD5422 featured hardware acceleration for both 8-bit and 16-bit color depths, making it one of the most cost-effective SVGA controllers equipped with these functions.
By the mid-1990s, as personal computers adopted the PCI bus architecture, Cirrus Logic fell behind competitors such as S3 and Trident. The postponed launch of the GD5470 "Mondello" harmed its standing in desktop graphics, as development efforts pivoted toward the quicker GD5464 model employing Rambus memory technology. Ultimately, Mondello was discontinued.
The company's last graphics chip lineup—the GD546x "Laguna" series of PCI/AGP 3D accelerators—were distinguished by their use of Rambus RDRAM and introduction of tiled memory architecture, a patented innovation that remains prevalent in contemporary GPUs. Despite sophisticated features including perspective-correct texture mapping and bilinear filtering, these chips were constrained by CPU limitations at that time, unable to fully exploit their capability of rendering nearly 2.5 million 25-pixel triangles per second.
Following Intel's entry into the 3D graphics arena with the i740 chipset, Cirrus Logic withdrew from this market segment which had previously generated roughly $500 million annually for them. Although Intel’s i740 initially underperformed and failed to secure significant design wins, Cirrus Logic chose to exit graphics manufacturing.
Cirrus Logic’s graphic cards continue to be supported within emulation platforms such as QEMU and Bochs, which emulate Cirrus PCI VGA hardware.
Desktop
- CL-GD410 + CL-GD420 – ISA SVGA chipsets utilized in the Video Seven VEGA VGA (1987)
- CL-GD510 + CL-GD520 – ISA SVGA "Eagle II" series, recognized for comprehensive CGA emulation capabilities (1988)
- CL-GD5320 – ISA SVGA chipset released in 1990
- CL-GD5401 & CL-GD5402 – ISA SVGA chipsets branded as Acumos VGA (AVGA1 & AVGA2)
- CL-GD5410 – Early integrated ISA SVGA chipset featuring onboard RAMDAC and clock generation (1991)
- CL-GD5420/21/22 – Highly integrated ISA SVGA chipsets; the CL-GD5422 supported interlaced resolutions up to 1280×1024
- CL-GD5424/25/26/28/29 – VLB and ISA models equipped with improved BitBLT engines and television output functionality
- CL-GD5430/34/36 – PCI Alpine series chips with 32- or 64-bit memory interfaces and video RAM capacities reaching 2 MB (1994)
- CL-GD5440/46 – Enhanced Alpine models incorporating motion-video acceleration; VisualMedia accelerators optimized for 2D graphics
- CL-GD546X – Laguna Family VisualMedia Accelerators integrating 2D, 3D, and video features, utilizing Rambus RDRAM to achieve bandwidths up to 600 MB/s:
- CL-GD5462 - Lacks 3D acceleration
- CL-GD5464 - Includes hardware-based 3D acceleration (PCI interface)
- CL-GD5465 - Supports AGP interface
- CL-GD5480 – Advanced Alpine accelerator with 100 MHz SGRAM and MPEG-2 video decoding support
These chipsets illustrate Cirrus Logic’s strategic focus on delivering affordable graphics solutions aimed at entry-level to mid-tier personal computers during a time of swift technological advancement.
Mobile
- CL-GD610 + 620 (1989)
- CL-GD6420/6440 – Integrated in certain laptop models; derived from earlier Cirrus designs (5410/AVGA2)
- CL-GD6205/6215/6225/6235 – Designed for compatibility with the CL-GD5420 chipset family
- CL-GD7541/7542/7543/7548 – Compatible with the CL-GD5428 and related series
See also
External links
- – Former spin-off from PC modem IC division, subsequently acquired by Intel
- Articles with short description
- Fabless semiconductor companies
- Graphics hardware companies
- American companies established in 1981
- Electronics companies established in 1981
- 1981 establishments in Utah
- Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas
- Companies listed on the Nasdaq
- Semiconductor companies of the United States
- American brands
- Companies in the S&P 400
- 5
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment