Avago Technologies has begun operations as the world’s largest privately held independent semiconductor company. Its creation follows the completion of the acquisition of Agilent Technologies Inc.’s Semiconductor Products Group by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Silver Lake Partners in a $2.66 B transaction. Its heritage of technical innovation dates back to its Agilent/Hewlett-Packard roots.
The new company serves three primary product categories comprising RF/microwave components, optoelectronics and enterprise ASICs. It boasts an extensive portfolio of more than 5500 products, which are sold into a broad set of applications and end markets, including wireless and wired communications, industrial, automotive, consumer electronics, and storage and computing. Products are sold to more than 40,000 customers through both a worldwide distributor network and direct sales force.
Avago Technologies is co-headquartered in Singapore and San Jose, CA, US. It had net revenue of $1.8 B in fiscal 2005 and begins with 6500 employees of which 1000 are analogue design engineers. The company has over 35 years of operating history in Asia, where approximately three-quarters of its employees are located and where a significant portion of its products are produced.
Avago Technologies, Europe starts with a total of 220 employees in seven different countries. Sales and Marketing is headquartered in Boeblingen, Germany, and all 108 employees there have transferred from Agilent to the new company. Avago Technologies, Europe has an R&D site in Turin, Italy, a design centre in Germany and one in the UK as well as a sales presence in seven countries. Globally it maintains highly collaborative design and product development engineering resources, including five design centres in Asia, four in the United States, together with the two in Europe.