MStar Semiconductor, Inc. () was a Taiwanese

fabless semiconductor company Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclu ...

specializing in mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies, based in Hsinchu Hsien. MStar made hardware for

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

and wireless communications, in the form of display ICs and mixed-mode (i.e. combining analog and digital functions)

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

/IPs, in addition to chip sets for

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

mobile handset A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive Telephone call, calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phone ...

s. MStar employed approx. 1300 in more than 10 branches worldwide. The company's revenue was around US$1067 million in 2010. The growth has been substantial, their revenue in 2005 was US$175 million. MStar is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the code 3697. MStar was often referred as "Little-M" or "Morning Star" in Chinese community, as a contrary part of the bigger semiconductor company "Big-M", a.k.a.

MediaTek MediaTek Inc. (), sometimes informally abbreviated as MTK, is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that designs and manufactures a range of semiconductor products, providing chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, h ...

. MStar was a spin-off (2-1 stock split) from System General Technology in May 2002, where the power IC product line stayed in System General Technology while the employees with the display and

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

product lines transferred to the new spin-off. After the spin-off, System General Technology regretted the decision, and a 1-2 stock swap was taken to exchange the two companies back to their corresponding shareholders. Chairman and CEO of MStar was Wayne Liang (梁公偉), while Dr. Steve Yang (楊偉毅) was the executive vice president and co-founder. In 2004, after being involved in a court case where in a ruling by the

International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...

(ITC), MStar Semiconductor were found guilty over infringing on a patent held by Genesis Microchip for a method to improve images on liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors and flat screen TVs. On October 14, 2020, MStar came under investigation by the US International Trade Commission for allegedly infringing patents held by DIVX LLC of San Diego, California, USA.

Merger with MediaTek

On 22 June 2012

Inc. () announced it purchased 212 million to 254 million shares of MStar ( - 40% to 48% of its outstanding shares) for 0.794 MediaTek shares and NT$1 in cash per MStar share.

Comparison table

References

{{Application ARM-based chips Taiwanese companies established in 2002

ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer, RISC instruction set architectures (ISAs) for central processing unit, com ...

Embedded microprocessors Fabless semiconductor companies System on a chip Semiconductor companies of Taiwan Companies based in Hsinchu Taiwanese brands Electronics companies established in 2002

Merger with MediaTek

Comparison table

See also

References