Editing Atmel (section)

==History==
[[Image:Atmel logo.svg|thumb|right|150px|Logo from 1984 to 2012]]

===Founding and 1980s growth===
Atmel Corporation was founded in 1984, by [[George Perlegos]].<ref name="SVHA">{{Cite web |title= Atmel |publisher= The Silicon Valley Historical Association |year= 2008 |url= http://www.siliconvalleyhistorical.org/#!atmel-company-history/c3t8 |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref> Atmel was an acronym for "advanced technology for memory and logic". Perlegos had worked in the memory group of [[Intel]] in the 1970s and had co-founded [[Seeq Technology]] to manufacture [[EPROM]] memory. Using only US$30,000 in capital, Atmel was initially operated as a [[Fabless manufacturing|fabless]] company, using [[Sanyo]] and [[General Instrument]] to make the chip wafers.<ref name="Funding-Universe">[http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/atmel-corporation-history/ fundinguniverse.com], "Atmel Corporation History"</ref>
The first Atmel memory products used less power than competitors. Customers included [[Motorola]], [[Nokia]], and [[Ericsson]]. In 1987, Intel sued Atmel for patent infringement.<ref name="About-Atmel">[http://components.about.com/od/Companies/p/Atmel-Corporation.htm about.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511131848/http://components.about.com/od/Companies/p/Atmel-Corporation.htm |date=2013-05-11 }}, "Atmel Corporation"</ref> Rather than fight the patent claim, Atmel redesigned its products to use different intellectual property. These had better performance and even lower power consumption. In addition, Atmel then entered the [[flash memory]] business that Intel had focused on. Atmel used US$60 million in venture capital for the 1989 purchase of a fabrication facility from [[Honeywell]] in Colorado Springs.<ref name="About-Atmel" /> Atmel then invested another US$30 million in manufacturing technology.

===1990s expansion===
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In 1991, Atmel expanded the Colorado facility after acquiring Concurrent Logic, a [[field-programmable gate array]] (FPGA) manufacturer. The company made its [[initial public offering]] (IPO) in 1991 which yielded more than US$65 million. 1994 saw Atmel enter the microprocessor market. The first Atmel flash memory microcontroller was based on the [[Intel MCS-51|Intel 8051]].<ref name="Flash-micro">[http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc2464.pdf atmel.com], "Atmel’s Self-Programming Flash Microcontrollers", Whitepaper.</ref>
The controller executed an instruction for every clock cycle, as opposed to the 12 cycles that legacy 8051 parts required.<ref name="atmel8051">[http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc4084.pdf atmel.com], "8051 Single Cycle Core Microcontrollers", Flyer.</ref>
In 1994, Atmel purchased the EEPROM assets of Seeq Technology ([[LSI Corporation]] acquired the rest of Seeq in 1999). In 1995,  Atmel was among the first companies to license the [[ARM architecture]], creating its AT91 family of devices, followed by the SAM family, and more recently a full selection of Cortex-based solutions, including ones based on the ultra-low-power [[ARM Cortex-M4]].<ref>
{{cite web
|title= Atmel Releases Updated Studio 6 IDE with Support for ARM Microcontrollers
|url=http://www.futurlec.com/News/Atmel/Studio6.shtml
|work=Futurlec
|access-date=October 3, 2013
}}
</ref> Atmel now has dozens of families of ARM-based devices. In 1995, Atmel acquired the pan-European chipmaker European Silicon Structures (ES2) and thus gained a fabrication facility in [[Rousset, Bouches-du-Rhône|Rousset]], France. Atmel built a new fab alongside the existing ES2 fab. This business unit was named Atmel-ES2. Atmel acquired Digital Research in Electronic Acoustics and Music (DREAM) in 1996.  Atmel formed a design team in [[Trondheim, Norway]] to develop the [[Atmel AVR]] line of [[RISC]] microcontrollers. This team combined technology of former students at the [[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]] with Atmel's expertise in flash memory. These 8-bit [[Modified Harvard architecture|Harvard architecture]] chips were first developed in 1996. The AVR chip is the basis of most [[Arduino]] [[Open-source model|open-source]] development boards. In 1998, Atmel purchased part of TEMIC from [[Vishay Intertechnology]], which provided them with a fab in Germany as well as part of MHS from Vishay that gave them a fab in [[Nantes]], France.<ref name="shack" >{{Cite web |title= Atmel Buys MHS, Again – The Twisted History of Atmel, Temic and MHS |date= February 5, 2011 |work= The CPU Shack museum |url= http://www.cpushack.com/2011/02/05/atmel-buys-mhs-again-the-twisted-history-of-atmel-temic-and-mhs/ |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

In September 2000, Atmel acquired a fabrication plant in [[North Tyneside]], England, from [[Siemens]], via a £28 million grant from the UK government and paying Siemens around US$35 million.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Siemens finally gets shot of UK fab: Atmel and UK Govt come up with the readies |author= Andrew Thomas |work= The Register |date= September 18, 2000 |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/09/18/siemens_finally_gets_shot/ |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

===Streamlining===
Atmel streamlined operations with a strategy called "fab-lite". This started in 2005 when Atmel sold the MHS fab in Nantes France to Xbybus. In February 2006, Steven Laub became a director and in August president and chief executive officer.<ref name="10k" /> Under Laub Atmel divested more manufacturing plants and business lines.<ref name="EBN">EBN (Electronic Buyer News).
[http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=2981&doc_id=261515 "Grading the Chain: Atmel CEO Steven Laub"]</ref> Atmel announced the sale of its North Tyneside facility (Fab9) on October 8, 2007. The manufacturing equipment was sold to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. ([[TSMC]]) and the property and associated land to [[Cobalt Park|Highbridge Business Park Limited]]. In 2008, Atmel sold their fab in Germany to Tejas semiconductor. In 2010, Atmel received approval from the French government to sell its fab to Germany-based LFoundry GmbH, while retaining their design center there.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Sale of Atmel's French fab approved |author= Mark LaPedus |work= EE Times |date= March 1, 2010 |url= http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1173170 |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref> Atmel completed the sale of their Secure Microcontroller Solutions smart card business to INSIDE Secure. In February 2011, Atmel sold its Digital Research in Electronics, Acoustics and Music (DREAM) business, which sold products for karaoke and other entertainment machines, for US$2.3 million. Atmel's [[DataFlash]] serial interface flash memory products were sold to [[Adesto Technologies]] in October 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Adesto buys Atmel serial flash families |author= Peter Clarke |work= EE Times |date= October 1, 2012 |url= http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1262600 |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

===Acquisitions===
[[File:Atmel-corporate-headquarters San-Jose 2013.jpg|thumb|right|Atmel corporate headquarters in San Jose California]]
As Atmel divested several fabs and ancillary business lines, Laub also oversaw acquisitions. One strategy was to participate in the touch screen market, both in the semiconductor chips and the sensors themselves.  In 2008, Atmel bought [[The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (2007)|Queens Award-winning]] Quantum Research Group Ltd. (now known as Atmel Technologies Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary), a supplier of capacitive sensing technology.<ref name="Quantum">Bloomberg. [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZmshaMivzH8 "Atmel Completes Acquisition of Quantum Research Group"]</ref> Work done at Quantum, led to the 2012 release of Atmel's XSense product line, a flexible touch screen based on copper mesh electrodes.<ref name="XSense">engadget. [https://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/atmel-xsense-touch-sensor-hands-on/ "Atmel's XSense technology will make curved touchscreens possible (hands-on)"]
</ref>

Atmel moved into [[Internet of things]] technology. They completed the acquisition of Advanced Digital Design S.A, a Spanish company that develops [[power line communication]]. Ozmo Devices, which developed products for [[Wi-Fi Direct]], was acquired by Atmel in December 2012. Ozmo was founded in 2004 as H-Stream Wireless by Kateljin Vleugels and Roel Peeters, and was based in [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]], California.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Atmel Wi-Fi buy aimed at Internet of Things |author= Peter Clarke |work= EE Times |date= December 21, 2012 |url= http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1280259 |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

In 2012, Atmel had approximately US$1.4 billion in annual revenue, with over 60% of their revenue from microcontrollers, and net income of US$30 million.<ref name="10k">{{Cite web |title= Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 |work= Form 10-K |publisher= US Securities and Exchange Commission |date= February 26, 2013 |url= https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/872448/000087244813000005/atml-201210k.htm |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

Atmel purchased the [[smart meter]]ing product lines of [[IDT Corporation]] in March 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Atmel buys IDT's smart metering business |author= Anne Francoise Pele  |work= EE Times |date= March 8, 2013 |url= http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1280565 |access-date= September 27, 2013 }}</ref>

Atmel purchased Newport Media in July 2014. This will provide Atmel further capability in wireless Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Atmel to Acquire Newport Media |work= Atmel press release |date= July 7, 2014 |url= http://ir.atmel.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=857896 |access-date= July 24, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140719092348/http://ir.atmel.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=857896 |archive-date= 2014-07-19 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

===Acquisition by Microchip Technology===
In October 2008, Atmel received an unsolicited offer from [[Microchip Technology]] and [[ON Semiconductor]], estimated at US$2.3 billion.<ref name="CNET">{{Cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10056589-92.html|title=Microchip, ON propose $2.3 billion deal for Atmel|author=Margaret Kane|date=October 2, 2008|work=CNet news|access-date=September 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atmel.com/corporate/documents/SLL_Customer_Letter.pdf|title=Letter to Customers and Business Partners|author=Steven Laub|date=October 2, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010124558/http://www.atmel.com/corporate/documents/SLL_Customer_Letter.pdf|archive-date=October 10, 2008|access-date=September 27, 2013}}</ref> The offer was eventually rejected and the companies gave up on their [[hostile takeover]] attempt.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/atmel-rejects-microchip-on-semiconductor-bid|title=Atmel rejects Microchip, ON Semiconductor bid|author=Benjamin Pimentel|date=October 29, 2008|work=Market Watch|access-date=September 27, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800570103_1800001_NT_824e6181.HTM|title=Microchip aims to 'elbow out' MCU rivals|date=April 17, 2009|work=EE Times India|access-date=April 28, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424114919/http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800570103_1800001_NT_824e6181.HTM|archive-date=April 24, 2009}}</ref>

However, in 2016, [[Microchip Technology|Microchip]] agreed to buy Atmel for $3.6 billion.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Qatalyst Partners]] served as financial advisers to Microchip and Atmel, respectively. The company had previously heard offers from [[Cypress Semiconductor]] and [[Dialog Semiconductor]] in 2015,<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-atmel-m-a-dialog-idUSKCN0RK0J420150920 Dialog Semiconductor to buy U.S. peer Atmel for $4.6 billion; Reuters; September 20, 2015.]</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title = Microchip Signs Deal to Buy Atmel|url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/microchip-signs-deal-to-buy-atmel-1453242821|newspaper = Wall Street Journal|access-date = 2016-01-21|issn = 0099-9660|first = Josh|last = Beckerman}}</ref> and the deal with Microchip was expected to be finalized at the end of Q2 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Microchip Reports Preliminary Q3 Results, Acquires Atmel|url = http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/204383/microchip-reports-preliminary-q3-results-acquires-atmel|website = Zacks Investment Research|access-date = 2016-01-21|first = Zacks Investment|last = Research}}</ref>

Atmel finally merged with [[Microchip Technology]] in July 2016 after prolonged negotiations for US$3.56 billion.<ref>[https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/products/micros/microchip-to-boost-8bit-avr-range-following-acquisition-2016-07/ Microchip to boost 8bit AVR range following acquisition]</ref><ref>[http://hackaday.com/2016/10/18/whats-the-deal-with-atmel-and-microchip/ WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ATMEL AND MICROCHIP?]</ref>

===The end of Atmel Way===
Apple Computer purchased the old cul-de-sac where Atmel's HQ office sat.  Paperwork was filed with the city of San Jose to change the name from "Atmel Way" to "Orchard Place".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Daniel Eran Dilger |title=AC3: Apple's insatiable appetite for office space devours Wolfe Campus, hungry for more |url=https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/04/26/ac3-apples-insatiable-appetite-for-office-space-devours-wolfe-campus-hungry-for-more |access-date=26 April 2019 |work=AI |date=26 April 2019 |language=en |quote=located next to the San Jose airport, was stealthily assembled from a series of purchases much like the original site of Apple Park. It includes the former headquarters of chip maker Atmel Corp (pictured below). The entity that owned the land, Ellis Partners, filed paperwork to rename its Amtel Way cul-de-sac to the more Apple-friendly "Orchard Place."}}</ref>