 | |
| Company type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| LSE:WLF | |
| Industry | Semiconductor, Digital signal processing, Mixed-signal integrated circuits |
| Founded | Edinburgh (1984)[1] |
| Defunct | 28 April 2014 (2014-04-28) |
| Fate | Acquired byCirrus Logic |
| Headquarters | Edinburgh,Scotland,United Kingdom |
Key people | Mike Hickey(CEO) Andy Brannan(CCO) David Milne(Co-founder) Jim Reid(Co-founder) |
Number of employees | 420[1] |
| Parent | Cirrus Logic |
| Subsidiaries | Sonaptic Ltd |
| Website | cirrus.com wolfsonmicro.com at theWayback Machine (archived July 3, 2014) (prior to acquisition). |
Wolfson Microelectronics plc was amicroelectronics andfablesssemiconductor company headquartered inEdinburgh, Scotland. It specialised insignal processing andmixed-signalchips for theconsumer electronics market and had engineering and sales offices throughoutAsia-Pacific,Europe, and theUnited States. In 2014, it was acquired byCirrus Logic for £291 million.[2]
Wolfson chips have found applications within thedigital audio player market, such as in Apple'siPod product line, Microsoft'sZune, Cowon's line of mp3 and PMP players, andSony'sPSP. Wolfson chips have also found place in theMicrosoftXbox game console,LogitechSqueezebox Duet[3] and thePalmOneTreosmartphone, and early versions of theiPhone andiPod Touch.
Wolfson Microelectronics plc was started in 1984 byDavid Milne and Jim Reid. Within a year, the company had 20 employees and a deal withFujitsu.[4] Wolfson grew and floated on theLondon Stock Exchange in 2003 and be listed in theFTSE 250. Both Milne and Reid had connections with theUniversity of Edinburgh; Reid attained aFirst Class Honours degree inEEE, and Milne directed the Wolfson Microelectronics Institute atKing's Buildings from 1973 to 1985.[5] In February, 2007, when Milne chose to step down, he was replaced in hisCEO role by Dave Shrigley, previouslyVice-President atIntel Corporation. His departure was one of a number of executive changes in late 2006, as Financial Director George Elliott also stood down.
In 2006, Milne was declared Entrepreneur of the Year by theCBI, and Wolfson named Company of the Year.[6] In November 2006 David Shrigley became the CEO of Wolfson, his first appointment at this level: he had previously worked forIntel in theAsia-Pacific region, and held directorships elsewhere.[7]
In 2007, Wolfson acquiredSonaptic Ltd,[8][9] consisting of formerSensaura employees, intending to expand the companys audio market and reach.[10] Sonaptic specialized in 3D positional audio for mobile devices, which lead to the acquisition.[9]
In September 2008, Mike Hickey joined Wolfson as Chief Executive Officer Designate and became Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2009. Mr Hickey joined Wolfson fromMotorola Inc, where he had held various senior positions in Motorola's mobile device business.[11] In July 2009, Andy Brannan joined Wolfson as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr Brannan previously held the position of VP ofNokia's SOSCO business, and prior to that spent eight years as Executive VP of Sales & Customer Operations atSymbian Ltd.[12]
Cirrus Logic acquired the Wolfson for 235p per share in April 2014, valuing the company at £291 million.[13][14]
Wolfson products have found applications within thedigital audio player market, such as in Microsoft'sZune product line, including theZune 30,Zune 80,[15] andZune HD, Cowon's line of mp3 and PMP players, as well as providing thecodec functionality for much ofApple Inc.'siPod series (with the exception of theiPod shuffle[16] andiPod classic[17]) andSony'sPSP.[18] Wolfson chips have also found place in theMicrosoftXbox game console,LogitechSqueezebox Duet[19] and thePalmOneTreosmartphone, with the Apple connection continuing with the earlier versions of theiPhone[20] andiPod Touch.[17][21]
Wolfson audio products can also be found in most Tegra 2 SoC devices and some devices like theSamsung Wave S8500 andSamsung i9000 Galaxy S smartphones[22] as well as a number ofLG phones including the LG-LB4400 music phone and the Android-powered LG Optimus GT540 smartphone.[23]
In April 2010, Wolfson signed a licence agreement withTensilica to create a low power, high-definition (HD) sound platform.[24]
Wolfson's chipsets were known for delivering high-quality sound that matched or surpassed the offerings of well-established manufacturers like Cirrus Logic. After replacing Wolfson's chip with a chip from Cirrus Logic there was a minor decline in Apple's iPod sound quality when connected with high-end audio gear despite the improved board design.[25][26][27]
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Wolfson Microelectronics also produced the Audio Cards forRaspberry Pi Model B Rev 2 namedWolfson Audio Card.[28][29] After Wolfson Microelectronics was purchased by Cirrus Logic the Audio Card for Raspberry PI Model B+ was renamedCirrus Logic Audio Card.[30]
With initial funding from Wolfson, an award called the IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal was established in 2006 by theIEEE andRoyal Society of Edinburgh. This award recognizes work with "exceptional impact on the development ofelectronics andelectrical engineering or related fields".[31][32][33]
