Company Overview

PMC-Sierra has ridden the peaks and valleys of the technology revolution. The company designs and markets integrated circuits, specifically for high-speed (broadband) communications equipment that is essential to the Internet's infrastructure. Its largest customers have been Lucent Technologies, HP, Fujitsu, and Cisco Systems, and the company's fate has largely mirrored those of its Internet-infrastructure brothers. Founded in 1984, the company is a leading provider of high-speed broadband communications semiconductors and MIPS-based processors for Access, Metro Transport, and Optical Transport network equipment. It also makes chips for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and is the world's largest maker of chips designed for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology. PMC-Sierra outsources all production, mainly to Asian foundries. Due to the continued decline in the semiconductor industry, PMC-Sierra announced in early 2003 that it was cutting about 16 percent of its workforce and closing excess facilities. In 2006 it closed a Canadian development center, resulting in 40 engineers losing their jobs. Despite industry trouble, PMC-Sierra has grown a bit through acquisitions: In 2005 it bought the storage semiconductor business of Avago Technologies, and in 2006 it acquired Passave, an optical networking components developer.