semiconductors founded october 28 1997 1997 10 28 founder martin brennan morgan colmer headquarters hong kong sar number of locations hong kong sar china prc products semiconductors services consultancy website www.global silicon.com global silicon limited is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 1997 in cambridge united kingdom . global silicon designed and produced system level semiconductors for the consumer audio market . global silicon created a number of new ics that were noteworthy for the level of system integration that was achieved . initial products focused on solutions for cd players later expanding to also include mp3 and wma compressed formats . global silicon s dart ic was used in the cd mp3 boombox philips az3038 1 and a subsequent ic xin was used in a number of consumer products including the cd mp3 wma boombox packard bell op10 . global silicon created a number of patents to cover the new technology that had been created . global silicon did not achieve commercial success the investors decided to close the company in 2006 citing lack of sales traction . 2 3 in 2007 the cto of global silicon purchased the company s intellectual property excluding patents stock and assets including a hk subsidiarity and has been operating the company from hong kong since . currently global silicon is a consulting company and consumer audio design house . contents 1 founding and investment 2 management 3 products 4 patents and technology 5 closing the uk company 6 management buyout 7 references 8 external links founding and investment edit global silicon was founded in cambridge uk 4 by engineer martin brennan . initially the company was called the cheap & cheerful chip company limited . 5 6 brennan was joined by engineer morgan colmer in 1998 . together brennan and colmer developed an fpga based demonstration for a new cd player ic that integrated the functions of several system ics into one system on a chip soc . after successfully raising 2 million gbp from investment firm mti 7 8 in 1999 the company went on to turn the demonstration system into an asic . the company changed its name to global silicon prior to the first round of investment . in 2005 global silicon received further investment of 5.7 million gbp from a consortium of investors made up of mti quester and celtic house . 9 10 11 management edit william jeffrey served as ceo and chairman from the initial investment in 1999 until he took a leave of absence in 2006 following being diagnosed with terminal cancer . 12 martin brennan served as managing director until he left global silicon in 2001 to form a new audio company called 3ga . 13 morgan colmer citation needed served as the cto for the company until 2006 and then participated in the management buy out of company assets and from 2007 has served as the managing director . david leith citation needed served as the ceo of the company from 2003 until 2004 . steve cliff citation needed served as sales and marketing director from 2004 to 2005 . andrew hamer citation needed served as sales and marketing director from 2002 to 2003 . nick rich citation needed served as cfo from december 2004 to october 2006 then served as managing director until december 2006 . products edit global silicon produced 6 different ics with varying degrees of success . all of the semiconductor products are now discontinued . ic name date of release number produced target products details dart 14 2003 100 k cd mp3 boombox 0.35 m nec process arrow 2003 1k cd mp3 boombox 0.5 m asm process . was never brought to productions due to cost issues dart2 2004 1k test chip 0.35 m csm process . was created as a test device for the next ics xin 14 2004 1000 k cd mp3 wma boombox 0.18 m csm process xif 2005 1k flash mp3 player 0.18 m csm process . not released due to a major bug xif2 2006 1k flash mp3 player 0.18 m csm process . bug fixed version of xif patents and technology edit global silicon s initial products focussed on the compact disc player market and one of the key pieces of technology that was created on the xin core platform was a complete cd player including servo data decoder and audio player . upon this base the company also created their own hand crafted implementations of mp3 and wma decoders . additional dsp effects were created as was a user interface ui layer that could easily be customised for the majority of consumer audio applications . patents created by the company were digital audio processing 15 driver circuit for a liquid crystal display 16 radio receiver 17 divisional filing for above relating to novel demodulation technique method for cancelling a beat frequency in a radio receiver de bouncing circuit 18 replaying digital media 19 sigma delta modulator 20 random number generator 21 flash memory error correction 22 a sigma delta modulator utilizing feedback loop and logic circuit 23 a network set up device 24 radio tuner user interface 25 closing the uk company edit in december 2006 the board decided to close the business and a buyer was sought for the ip stock and assets . the investors cited investment in global silicon was written off following its failure to get significant sales traction despite having a proven product . 2 it is also self evident that the loss of the company s chairman william jeffrey due to cancer 12 will have factored in the decision process . the timing of the closure was also at a pivotal point in the consumer audio market with compact disc equipment sales falling and being replaced with products such as the ipod . 26 27 the company s extensive patent portfolio was sold separately . management buyout edit in january 2007 the company cto morgan colmer purchased from the administrators the intellectual property ip stock and assets of the company including a hong kong subsidiary . all assets and intellectual property were then transferred to the subsidiary company of the same name and has operated since as a consulting business in asia . references edit az3038 00 philips cd soundmachine az3038 mp3 with dynamic bass boost philips support . p4c.philips.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . a b quester vct 5 final results fe investegate . investegate.co.uk . retrieved 2012 09 07 . appointment of administrators notice global silicon limited . opencorporates . 2006 12 13 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . radar company global silicon limited . tornado insider . retrieved 2012 09 07 . global silicon limited private company information businessweek . investing.businessweek.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . slipstream the konix multisystem archive . konixmultisystem.co.uk . 2006 07 04 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . mti partners to acquire global silicon stake . telecompaper . 1999 04 13 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . mti invests gcp 2 million in audio chip concept . uk venture capital journal 94 . 1999 . cambridge s global silicon secures 5.4 million investment . thames tech wire . 2005 09 06 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . canada it . canada it . retrieved 2012 09 07 . u.k. startup raises 10 million seeks ceo . eetimes.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . a b bill jeffrey . the times . 24 may 2007 . retrieved 14 january 2013 . 3ga limited . bizzy . retrieved 14 january 2013 . a b uk digital audio firm lines up major players 9 3 2003 . electronics weekly . 2003 09 03 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . gb2001002096 digital audio processing . wipo.int . retrieved 2012 09 07 . driver circuit for a liquid crystal display global silicon limited . sumobrain.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . radio receiver global silicon limited . sumobrain.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . debouncing circuit . freshpatents.com . 2006 07 18 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . replaying digital media global silicon limited . freepatentsonline.com . 2006 12 20 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . us patent 7 567 192 . sigma delta modulator . patents.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . random number generators and systems and methods relating to the same . freshpatents.com . 2006 09 11 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . flash memory error correction . patentscope . retrieved 14 january 2013 . a sigma delta modulator utilizing feedback loop and logic circuit united kingdom patent gb2409118 . patent.ipexl.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . gb2007004224 network set up device . wipo.int . retrieved 2012 09 07 . radio tuner user interface . freshpatents.com . 2006 05 22 . retrieved 2012 09 07 . smith ethan 2009 01 02 . music sales decline for seventh time in eight years wsj.com . online.wsj.com . retrieved 2012 09 07 . plambeck joseph 30 may 2010 . as cd sales wane music retailers diversify . the new york times . retrieved 14 january 2013 . external links edit official website xin processor gets ready for tape out rega cd players that are currently available that use the xin ic inside retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title global silicon & oldid 670631821 categories fabless semiconductor companiescompanies based in cambridgehidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements 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