 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Founded | 1974 (1974) |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Number of employees | 174 (2009)[1] |
| Parent | Littelfuse |
| Website | zilog |
Zilog, Inc, previously stylized asZiLOG, is an American manufacturer ofmicroprocessors,microcontrollers, and application-specific embeddedsystem-on-chip (SoC) products.
The company was founded in 1974 byFederico Faggin andRalph Ungermann, who were soon joined byMasatoshi Shima. All three had left Intel after working on the4004 and8080 microprocessors. The company's most famous product is theZ80 microprocessor, which played an important role in the evolution of early computing.Software-compatible with the Intel 8080, it offered a compelling alternative due to its lower cost and increased performance, propelling it to widespread adoption invideo game systems andhome computers during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The name, pronounced with a long "i" (/ˈzaɪlɒɡ/), is an acronym ofZ integrated logic, also thought of as "Z for the last word of Integrated Logic".
Zilog was started inCalifornia in 1974 byFederico Faggin andRalph Ungermann with support and encouragement fromExxon's computing division.[2][3] Both leftIntel after working on the4004 and8080 microprocessors and custom chips.Masatoshi Shima, who also worked with Faggin on the 4004 and 8080, joined Zilog in 1975.[4] Ungermann did not want the company to become an Exxon subsidiary and left Zilog in 1978.[5]
On January 1, 1979, Zilog released the first issue of their comic bookCaptain Zilog, which featured the Z8000 computer.[6] The Z8000, introduced that year, was the company's first 16-bit microprocessor.[7]
The company became a subsidiary of Exxon in 1980. Exxon initially acquired 51 percent of the company before buying it outright;[8] however, the management and employees bought it back in 1989, led byEdgar Sack.[9]
Zilog went public in 1991, but was acquired in 1998 byTexas Pacific Group for $527 million.[10] Curtis Crawford replaced Sack and changed the company's direction towards 32-bit data communications processors.
In 1999, Zilog acquired Production Languages Corporation for an unspecified amount less than $10 million.[11]
Bonds were sold against the company to fund the new developments, but after theInternet bubble burst in 2000 and the resultant reduction in customer demand for such products, Curtis Crawford was replaced by James (Jim) Thorburn, who reorganized the company underChapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2001 and refocused it on the 8- and 16-bit microcontroller market.
Jim Thorburn led Zilog back into profitability, and by FY 2007, Zilog had $82 million in sales. During this time, the company developed the Z8 Encore! 8-bit Flash MCU and ZNEO 16-bit Flash MCU product families. In February 2007, Zilog hired Darin Billerbeck to replace Jim Thorburn as president and CEO.
The last year Zilog introduced any new 8-bit microcontroller products was 2007. With no new product road map, FY2008 sales fell 20% to $67.2 million. Sales fell 46% in FY2009 to $36.2 million.[citation needed]
In January 2008, Zilog declined an unsolicited proposal made by Universal Electronics Inc. to acquire the company.[12]
On February 19, 2009, Zilog announced that it had sold off its 8-bit Crimzon Universal Remote Control infrared microcontroller product line, as well as its ARM9 32-bit microcontrollers, including the Zatara security microcontrollers and 15 patents, to Maxim Integrated Products. Remote control manufacturer Universal Electronics Inc. purchased all of Zilog's software and intellectual property assets related to Zilog's universal remote control business, including all ROM code, software, and database of infrared codes.[13] Zilog sold these assets for $31 million cash.
In December 2009,IXYS Corporation bought the company for $62.4 million in cash, which was significantly below the market valuation of Zilog's stock at the time.[14][15] Details of the acquisition have been under investigation.
Since early 2010, Zilog has refocused on the industrial and consumer markets for motion detection, motor control, RF wireless and embedded security applications, and is currently producing a number of reference designs that integrate its 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers with IXYS power management products.
In February 2012, Zilog announced the release of its Z8051 family of microcontrollers and tool sets to fill a vacancy in the developer market for8051 cores that was created when chip-makerNXP Semiconductors exited the 8051 market. Later that year, Zilog announced its ZGATE Embedded Security solution, which incorporates its eZ80F91 MCU and TCP/IP stack with an embedded firewall to offer protection against cyber threats and attacks at the chip level.
In August 2017, Zilog and its parent IXYS Corporation were acquired byLittelfuse Inc in exchange for $750 million in cash and stocks.[16][17]
The Z80(i) is an improved implementation of theIntel 8080 architecture, with substantial extensions to the register model andinstruction set and with added hardware interface features.At introduction, the Z80 was faster, more capable, and much cheaper than the 8080. Alongside the6502, the Z80 was one of the most popular 8-bit processors for general purpose microcomputers and other applications from the late 1970s well into the 1980s, and while modern CMOS versions of the 6502 are still in production and use today, the Z80 was discontinued in 2024.[18] The Z80 CPU was used in theSinclairZX80,ZX81,ZX Spectrum and theAmstrad CPChome computers as well as theMSX architecture and theMicrobee andTandyTRS-80 (models I, II, III, 4, and others). TheCP/M-80operating system (and its huge software library featuring hits likeWordStar anddBase) was known to bethe Z80 disk operating system, and its success is partly due to the popularity of the Z80. The 1985Commodore 128 added a Z80 to the Commodore 64 hardware allowing it to run CP/M software; theDigital Equipment CorporationRainbow 100 similarly added a Z80 to an Intel 8088-based MS-DOS computer to enable the machine to run both MS-DOS and CP/M software natively.
The Z80 was a common choice for creators of video games during theGolden age of arcade video games, with a Z80 poweringPac-Man,[19] dual Z80s inScramble,[20] and three in eachGalaga machine.[21] It was the central processor for theColecoVision game console (1982) andSega'sMaster System (1986) andGame Gear (1990).
In the 1990s, the Z80 was the CPU of theTexas Instrumentsgraphing calculator series, as well as being used as the secondary/support CPU in theSega Genesis (most typically used for sound[22]).
After the Z80 Zilog introduced the16-bitZ8000 and32-bitZ80000 processors, but these were not particularly successful, and the company refocused on themicrocontroller market, producing both basic CPUs andapplication-specific integrated circuits/standard products (ASICs/ASSPs) built around a CPU core. As well as producing processors, Zilog has produced several other components. One of the most famous was theZilog SCC serial communications controller as found on early AppleMacintosh,SunSPARCstations and SPARCservers up to theSPARCstation 20.
Zilog also formed a Systems Division, which designed the Zilog System 8000, a Z8000- or Z80000-basedmultiuser computer system running a Unix derivative called ZEUS (Zilog Enhanced UNIX System).[23][24]
Zilog attempted to enter the 32-bit microcontroller market in February 2006 with the demonstration ofARM9-based Point-Of-Sale (POS) microcontroller product line.[25][26] The final product was released in 2007 called Zatara.[27] Sales were disappointing and the entire ARM9 series was sold to Maxim Integrated Products in 2009.
Zilog also produced Zdots single board computers. It includes Zilog eZ80AcclaimPlus controller, 1MB flash memory, 512KB SRAM, 10BaseT Ethernet Controller, IrDA transceiver, 2 x 60-pin system expansion interface with full MPU bus/control signals, RJ-45 Ethernet connector.[28] Motion detection version includes Z8 Encore! XP MCU.[29]
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