CSR plc

CSR plc
Company type	Public limited company
Industry	Semiconductors; Communications
Founded	1998; 26 years ago (as Cambridge Silicon Radio)
Defunct	14 August 2015
Fate	Acquired by Qualcomm
Headquarters	Cambridge, England, U.K.
Key people	Ron Mackintosh (chairman); Joep van Beurden (CEO); Will Gardiner (CFO)
Products	Fabless semiconductor that included connectivity, audio, imaging and GPS chips
Revenue	US$774.8 million (2014)
Operating income	US$97.0 million (2014)
Net income	US$96.8 million (2014)
Website	csr.com

CSR plc (formerly Cambridge Silicon Radio) was a multinational fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Its main products were connectivity, audio, imaging and location chips. CSR was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until it was acquired by Qualcomm in August 2015. Under Qualcomm's ownership, the company was renamed Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd.

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The company was founded in 1998 and split away from Cambridge Consultants as Cambridge Silicon Radio or CSR in 1999. The founding directors, who were all at Cambridge Consultants at the time were Phil O'Donovan,^[2] James Collier and Glenn Collinson.^[3] It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004.^[4]

In 2005 the company acquired Clarity Technologies, a leading clear voice capture (CVC) business^[5] and UbiNetics, a 3G wireless (WCDMA/UMTS/HSDPA) technology company.^[6] In 2007, CSR acquired Nordnav, a Swedish-based GPS software company, and CPS, a Cambridge-based GPS software company producing Enhanced GPS in partnership with Motorola.^[7]

In February 2009, CSR announced it was merging with SiRF, the biggest global supplier of GPS chips, in a share deal worth $136 million;^[8] in July 2010, CSR announced the acquisition of Belfast-based APT Licensing Ltd. (APT) and its aptX audio technology^[9] and in February 2011, CSR announced it was merging with Zoran, a video and imaging technology company.^[10]

In May 2012, CSR acquired Direct Digital Feedback Amplifier (DDFA) technology, a proprietary, highly scalable digital Class-D audio amplifier technology;^[11] in June 2012, CSR announced that it had acquired the MAPX (formerly MAP-X) audio product line from Trident Microsystems, Inc^[12] and in July 2012, Samsung Electronics agreed to acquire CSR's mobile phone connectivity (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) and location (GPS/GNSS) businesses and associated IP for US$310 million (£198 million).^[13] As part of the deal Samsung acquired a stake of 4.9% in CSR.^[13]

In June 2014, CSR acquired the people and technology of Reciva, a networked audio streaming platform, for US$5 million^[14] and in October 2014, the acquisition of CSR by Qualcomm for $2.5 billion was agreed.^[15] The transaction was completed in August 2015.^[16]

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CSR's products included platform solutions for Bluetooth, GPS, FM broadcasting, Wi-Fi, audio, imaging, and ARM processors.^[17] After the Zoran merger, CSR also made digital imaging products based on the MIPS architecture.^[18]^[19]

CSR had 27 offices in 13 countries:

Churchill House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, UK
Trinity House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, UK
Selwyn House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, UK
Unit 400, Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge, UK
Part of St. John's House, St. John's Innovation Park, Cambridge, UK
Quay West, Manchester, England, UK
Bristol and Bath Science Park, Bristol, England, UK
Legacy Building, Catalyst Inc, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Ingolstadt, Germany
Freiburg, Germany
Haifa, Israel
Auburn Hills, Michigan, United States
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Sunnyvale, California, United States
Santa Ana, California, United States
Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
Plano, Texas, United States
Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Shenzhen, China
Prestige Technology Park II, Bangalore, India
Noida, India
Tokyo, Japan
Seongnam, Gyunggi-Do, Korea
Gumi, Korea
United Square, Singapore
Taipei, Taiwan
Zhongli, Taiwan
Lund, Ideon Science Park, Sweden

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[1]
"Annual Report 2014" (PDF). CSR plc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
[2]
"Philip O'Donovan - Royal Academy of Engineering". Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
[3]
Kirk, Kate; Cotton, Charles (2012). The Cambridge Phenomenon: 50 years of innovation and enterprise. London: Third Millennium Publishing. ISBN 9781906507527.
[4]
and became a FTSE250 company in the same year. Blue tooth firms IPO share fetch top price Archived 17 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
[5]
"CSR plc acquisition of Clarity Technologies, Inc". ic-tech.com. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
[6]
"FindArticles.com | CBSi". findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
[7]
"EDN - Industry News, Learning center, electronic design center". edn-europe.com. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
[8]
"Merger Agreement with SiRF". Archived from the original on 16 January 2012.
[9]
"CSR buys Belfast based audio compression specialist". New Electronics. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
[10]
"CSR plc announces merger with Zoran Corporation". Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
[11]
"CSR Strengthens Its Audio Platform with High Fidelity Class-D Amplifier Technology". Businesswire. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
[12]
"CSR buys Trident's audio processor line". EE Times. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
[13]
"Samsung buys chipmaker CSR's handset technology". Reuters. 17 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
[14]
"CSR Capital Markets Day Report, June 2014" (PDF).
[15]
"Qualcomm trumps Microchip with $2.5 billion deal for Britain's CSR" (Press release). Reuters. 15 October 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
[16]
"Qualcomm completes $2.4bn take-over of Cambridge's CSR". Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
[17]
"CSR Joins Qualcomm". csr.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
[18]
"CSR Wireless Technology Product Finder". csr.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
[19]
"CSR Wireless Technology Product Finder". csr.com. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

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[ar-1] [1]
"Annual Report 2014" (PDF). CSR plc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

[2] [2]
"Philip O'Donovan - Royal Academy of Engineering". Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

[camphenom-3] [3]
Kirk, Kate; Cotton, Charles (2012). The Cambridge Phenomenon: 50 years of innovation and enterprise. London: Third Millennium Publishing. ISBN 9781906507527.

[4] [4]
and became a FTSE250 company in the same year. Blue tooth firms IPO share fetch top price Archived 17 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine

[5] [5]
"CSR plc acquisition of Clarity Technologies, Inc". ic-tech.com. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

[6] [6]
"FindArticles.com | CBSi". findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

[7] [7]
"EDN - Industry News, Learning center, electronic design center". edn-europe.com. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

[8] [8]
"Merger Agreement with SiRF". Archived from the original on 16 January 2012.

[9] [9]
"CSR buys Belfast based audio compression specialist". New Electronics. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

[10] [10]
"CSR plc announces merger with Zoran Corporation". Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.

[11] [11]
"CSR Strengthens Its Audio Platform with High Fidelity Class-D Amplifier Technology". Businesswire. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

[12] [12]
"CSR buys Trident's audio processor line". EE Times. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

[reut17712-13] [13]
"Samsung buys chipmaker CSR's handset technology". Reuters. 17 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2012.

[14] [14]
"CSR Capital Markets Day Report, June 2014" (PDF).

[15] [15]
"Qualcomm trumps Microchip with $2.5 billion deal for Britain's CSR" (Press release). Reuters. 15 October 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.

[16] [16]
"Qualcomm completes $2.4bn take-over of Cambridge's CSR". Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[17] [17]
"CSR Joins Qualcomm". csr.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

[18] [18]
"CSR Wireless Technology Product Finder". csr.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

[19] [19]
"CSR Wireless Technology Product Finder". csr.com. Retrieved 22 August 2015.

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CSR plc

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