Originally spun off from
Philips in 2006, NXP completed its
initial public offering, on August 6, 2010, with shares trading on
Nasdaq under the
ticker symbolNXPI. On December 23, 2013, NXP Semiconductors was added to the
Nasdaq-100 index.[4] On March 2, 2015, it was announced that NXP would merge with
Freescale Semiconductor.[5] The merger was closed on December 7, 2015.[6] On October 27, 2016, it was announced that
Qualcomm would try to buy NXP.[7] However, Qualcomm cancelled the deal due in part to trade issues in China. The merger was effectively cancelled on July 26, 2018.[8]
Description
NXP provides technology solutions targeting the
automotive, industrial,
IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. The company owns over 9,500 patent families.
NXP is the co-inventor of
near field communication (NFC) technology along with
Sony and Inside Secure and supplies NFC chip sets that enable mobile phones to be used to pay for goods, and store and exchange data securely.[9] NXP manufactures chips for eGovernment applications such as
electronic passports;
RFID tags and labels; and transport and access management, with the
chip set and
contactless card for
MIFARE used by many major public transit systems worldwide.[10] In order to protect against potential hackers, NXP offers gateways to automotive manufacturers that prevent communication with every network within a car independently.[11]
Worldwide sites
NXP Semiconductors is headquartered in
Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company has operations in more than 30 countries.[12]
In 1953 Philips started a small scale production facility in the center of the Dutch city Nijmegen as part of its main industry group "Icoma" (Industrial Components and Materials), followed by the opening of a new factory in 1955. In 1965 Icoma became part of a new Philips main industry group: "Elcoma" (Electronic Components and Materials).[13] In 1975
Silicon Valley–based
Signetics was acquired by Philips. Signetics claimed to be the "first company in the world established expressly to make and sell integrated circuits"[14] and inventor of the
555 timer IC. At the time, it was claimed that with the Signetics acquisition, Philips was now number two in the league table of semiconductor manufacturers in the world.[15] In 1987, Philips was ranked Europe's largest semiconductor maker.[16] The year after, all Philips semiconductor subsidiaries, including Signetics, Faselec (in Switzerland) and
Mullard (in the UK), were merged in the newly formed product division Components. The semiconductor activities were split off from Components in 1991 under the name Philips Semiconductors.[13] In June 1999,
Philips acquired
VLSI Technology, at the time making Philips the world's sixth largest semiconductor company.[17]
Independent company
In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to divest Philips Semiconductors into an independent
legal entity.[18] In September 2006, Philips completed the sale of an 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of
private equity investors consisting of
KKR,
Bain Capital,
Silver Lake Partners,
Apax Partners and
AlpInvest Partners.[19][20] The new company name NXP (from Next eXPerience) was announced on August 31, 2006,[21] and the company was officially launched during the
Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin. The newly independent NXP was ranked as one of the world's top 10 semiconductor companies.[22]
In February 2007, when NXP announced that it would acquire
Silicon Laboratories’ AeroFONE single-chip phone and power amplifier product lines to strengthen its Mobile and Personal business.[23] The next year, NXP announced that it would transform its Mobile and Personal business unit into a joint venture with
STMicroelectronics, which in 2009 became
ST-Ericsson, a 50/50
joint venture of
Ericsson Mobile Platforms and
STMicroelectronics, after ST purchased NXP's 20% stake.[24] In April 2008, NXP announced it would acquire the set-top box business of
Conexant to complement its existing Home business unit.[25][26] In September 2008, NXP announced that it would restructure its manufacturing, R&D and back office operations, resulting in 4,500 job cuts worldwide.[27] In October 2009, NXP announced that it would sell its Home business unit to
Trident Microsystems.[28]
Before the divestiture of
Nexperia in June 2016,[29] NXP was a volume supplier of discrete and standard logic devices, celebrating its 50 years in logic (via its history as both
Signetics and Philips Semiconductors) in March 2012.[30]
In March 2015, a merger agreement was announced through which NXP would merge with competitor
Freescale Semiconductor.[34] In view of this merger, NXP's RF Power activities were sold to
JAC Capital for US$1.8 billion and rebranded as
Ampleon, in a transaction closed in November 2015.[35] Both NXP and Freescale had deep roots stretching back to when they were part of Philips (NXP), and Motorola (Freescale) respectively.[36] Both had similar revenue; US$4.8 billion and US$4.2 billion in 2013 for NXP and Freescale, respectively with NXP primarily focusing on
near field communication (NFC) and
high-performance mixed signal (HPMS) hardware, and Freescale focusing on its
microprocessor and
microcontroller businesses, and both companies possessing roughly equal patent portfolios.[37] On December 7, 2015, NXP completed the merger with Freescale Semiconductor; the merged company continued its operation as NXP Semiconductors N.V.[38]
Notable events
On July 26, 2010, NXP announced that it had acquired
Jennic, based in
Sheffield,
UK,[39] which now operates as part of its smart home and energy product line, using
Zigbee and
JenNet-IP.
In December 2010, NXP announced that it would sell its Sound Solutions business to Knowles Electronics, part of
Dover Corporation, for $855 million in cash.[41] The acquisition was completed as of July 5, 2011.[42]
In April 2012, NXP announced its intent to acquire electronic design consultancy Catena to work on automotive applications.[43]
In 2012, revenue for NXP's Identification business unit was $986 million, up 41% from 2011, in part due to growing sales of
NFC chips and secure elements.[45]
On January 4, 2013, NXP and
Cisco announced their investment in Cohda Wireless, an Australian company focused on car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications.[46]
In January 2013, NXP announced 700-900 redundancies worldwide in an effort to cut costs related to "support services".[47]
In May 2013, NXP announced that it acquired Code Red Technologies, a provider of embedded software development such as the LPCXpresso IDE and Red Suite.[48]
In July 2014, NXP was reported to have terminated the employment of union organizers.[49] A campaign was started for their reinstatement.[50]
In August 2015, a joint-venture with the Beijing JianGuang Asset Management Co. Ltd. was registered in Shanghai, China under the name
WeEn Semiconductors.[51]
On June 14, 2016, it was announced that
Nexperia would be divested from NXP to a consortium of financial investors consisting of Beijing Jianguang Asset Management Co., Ltd (“JAC Capital”) and Wise Road Capital LTD (“Wise Road Capital”).[52] WeEn Semiconductors started delivery of bipolar and
SiC power semiconductors,
TRIACs,
IGBT modules, etc.[53]
In April 2017,
Qualcomm received approval from U.S. antitrust regulators for the acquisition of NXP for $47 billion.[54] However, the acquisition has not received approval from Chinese authorities and Qualcomm has refiled an antitrust application and request to purchase with the PRC Ministry of Commerce.[55]
In September 2018, NXP announced that it acquired OmniPHY, a provider of automotive Ethernet subsystem technology.[56][57]
On December 6, 2019, NXP announced the completion of the acquisition of the wireless connectivity assets from
Marvell.[58]
On May 27, 2020, NXP announced that at its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (“AGM”) that shareholders overwhelmingly approved the appointment of Kurt Sievers as an executive director and the company's chief executive officer effective immediately thereby replacing Richard Clemmer, who previously led the company for 11 years. In this capacity Mr. Sievers will also remain President of NXP, a role he has held since 2018.[59]
On June 18, 2020, NXP announced HoverGames Challenge 2: Help Drones Help Others.[60]
On July 21, 2020, NXP delivered secure and scalable edge-connected platforms based on its i.MX RT crossover processors and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth solutions.[61]
On August 11, 2020, NXP's industry-first solution to combine
UWB fine-ranging, NFC, Secure Element, and embedded SIM (eSIM) was included in Samsung's new
Galaxy Note20 Ultra.[62]
Controversies
In March 2013, NXP locked out workers at its plant in Bangkok, Thailand. The reason was stalled negotiations over a new work schedule with their trade union, which was affiliated with the
Confederation of Thai Electrical Appliances, Electronic Automobile & Metalworkers (TEAM). Management then called in small groups of workers, asked them if they agreed with the union's demands, and told them to leave if they did. They were not able to enter the factory the next day. In response, TEAM staged protests outside the factory and on March 13 outside the Dutch embassy and also filed a complaint with the
National Human Right Commission. On April 29, mediation by the
Ministry of Labour led to the signing of a memorandum that passed the decision over the work schedule to the Labour Relations Committee. The committee decided on June 20 that the new work schedule did not violate Thai labour law; however, the National Human Rights Committee decided otherwise and recommended the factory should revert to the old schedule. NXP continues to demand regular 12-hour shifts.[63]
In May 2014, the company fired 24 workers at its plant in the
special economic zone in Cabuyao, The Philippines. The workers were all officials of a trade union affiliated with the
Metal Workers Alliance of the Philippines (MWAP). Reports said they were fired due to their union functions in negotiations for a new
collective bargaining agreement. Factory owners claimed the workers were fired after refusing to work on April 9, while workers said they had not been paid for two months.[64] IndustriALL and its affiliated unions in the Philippines condemned the dismissals.[65][66] In September, MWAP and NXP reached an agreement by which 12 of the fired workers were reinstated and the other 12 received separation packages. NXP also committed itself to a long-term wage increase.[67] In the summer of 2015, a member of the Dutch parliament questioned trade minister
Lilianne Ploumen regarding NXP's behaviour.[68]
See also
NXP MIFARE contactless smart cards and proximity cards