Silicon Labs' first chip took sales from $5.6 million in 1998 to nearly $47 million in 1999. The chip replaced a bulky part every modem needed, the direct access arrangement, which kept power surges on the phone line from harming the network. Three engineers from Crystal Semiconductor started the Austin company in 1996. By early 2000 they also sold a radio-frequency chip for cell phones, just as mobile phones were spreading fast.

Analog Parts in Plain Silicon

Nav Sooch, Dave Welland and Jeff Scott bet that circuits usually built from costly, separate analog parts could move onto standard silicon chips. Their silicon DAA cost less and took less space than the parts it replaced. Their RF synthesizer, released in late 1999, generated the high frequency signals a mobile phone needs. The company sold mainly to makers of modems, phones and communications gear, and its offices sat on Boston Lane in Austin.

From Modems to Texas Instruments

Silicon Labs priced its IPO at $31 a share in March 2000 and listed on Nasdaq as SLAB. It moved into timing chips, microcontrollers and FM radio chips. From 2012 it focused on chips for connected devices. In 2021 it sold its infrastructure and automotive business to Skyworks for $2.75 billion. In February 2026 Texas Instruments agreed to buy Silicon Labs for $231 a share in cash, with closing expected in the first half of 2027.

Cover: Looking Over the Sand Dunes - Easthampton, Thomas Moran. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for sand dunes (silicon from sand).