Altera (FRA:ALR) Profitability Rank : 0 (As of Sep. 2015)

Altera Corp was founded in 1983 and reincorporated in the State of Delaware in 1997. It designs and sells programmable logic devices, HardCopy application-specific integrated circuit devices, power system-on-chip devices, pre-defined design building blocks known as intellectual property cores, and associated development tools. Its PLDs, which consist of field-programmable gate arrays, including those referred to as systems-on-chip FPGAs which incorporate hard embedded processor cores, and complex programmable logic devices. FPGAs and CPLDs are standard semiconductor integrated circuits that are manufactured as standard chips that its customers program to perform desired logic and processing functions within their electronic systems. With its HardCopy devices it offers its customers a migration path from a PLD to a low-cost, high-volume, non-programmable implementation of their designs. Its customers can license IP cores for implementation of standard functions in their PLD designs. Customers develop, compile, and verify their PLD designs, and then program their designs into its PLDs using its proprietary development software, which operates on personal computers and engineering workstations. Its products serve a range of customers within the Telecom and Wireless, Industrial Automation, Military and Automotive, Networking, Computer and Storage and Other vertical markets. Its geographical segments include US, Japan, China, Europe and Other. Its customers design electronic systems that typically use three types of digital integrated circuits: Processors, which include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processors, and digital signal processors, control central computing tasks and signal processing; Memory stores programming instructions and data; and Logic manages the interchange and manipulation of digital signals within a system. It classifies its products into three categories: New, Mainstream, and Mature and Other Products. New Products include the Stratix V, Stratix IV, Arria 10, Arria V, Arria II, Cyclone V, Cyclone IV, MAX 10 FPGAs, MAX V CPLDs, HardCopy IV devices and Enpirion PowerSoCs. Mainstream Products include the Stratix III, Cyclone III, MAX II and HardCopy III devices. Mature and Other Products include the Stratix II, Stratix, Arria GX, Cyclone II, Cyclone, Classic, MAX 3000A, MAX 7000, MAX 7000A, MAX 7000B, MAX 7000S, MAX 9000, HardCopy II, HardCopy, FLEXseries, APEX series, Mercury, Excalibur devices, configuration and other devices, intellectual property cores, and software and other tools. The Company competes with PLD vendors such as Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, Microsemi Corporation, and Xilinx Inc. Other semiconductor companies with whom it may compete includes Analog Devices Inc., Atmel Corporation, Avago Technologies, Broadcom Corporation, Cavium, Inc., Freescale Semiconductor Inc., GlobalFoundries Inc., HiSilicon Technologies Company, Intel Corporation ("Intel"), Linear Technology Corporation