Brite Semiconductor is a

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 ...

founded in 2008 to develop custom

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 ...

designs. The company's top supplier and second largest shareholder is

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is a partially state-owned publicly listed Chinese pure-play semiconductor foundry company. It is the largest contract chip maker in mainland China. SMIC is headquartered in Shanghai ...

History

Brite Semiconductor was founded in July 2008 in Shanghai's

Zhangjiang High-Tech Park The Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park is a technology park in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. It is operated by Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Co., Ltd. The park specializes in research in life sciences, software, semiconductors, and inform ...

; its investors include

(SMIC), Open-Silicon,

Norwest Venture Partners Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...

, Gobi Partners, InterWest Partners and

Pierre Lamond Pierre R Lamond (born September 12, 1930) is a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley who has specialized in semiconductors, systems and cleantech. He was a partner at Sequoia Capital based in Menlo Park, California, from 1981 until he left to join Vi ...

. Brite acquired its first successful 130 nm tape-out three months after its founding, its first 90 nm design win in September, and first 65 nm tape-out in October with the assistance of its leading strategic business partner and lead shareholder, Open-Silicon. In January 2009, Open-Silicon granted Brite license to its MAX technology. In April 2014,

Synopsys Synopsys, Inc. is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Synopsys sup ...

announced that Brite Semiconductor will join the Synopsys IP OEM Partner Program. In December 2023, US senator

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

called for sanctions against Brite Semiconductor over its ties to the Chinese military industrial complex.

References

External links

* {{Official website Semiconductor companies of China Fabless semiconductor companies Companies based in Shanghai Computer companies established in 2008 Electronics companies established in 2008