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Alcor Micro -- USB ICs  
 
Founded: Nov 1996
Status: Private
Source: Semiconductor Times, 12/97
www.alcormicro.com
17F-1, No. 202, Sec. 2. Yen Ping N. Rd.
Taipei,
Taiwan, ROC
Tel: 886.2.2549.6396
Fax: 886.2.2549.6394

Alcor was founded in Nov. '96 to develop advanced I/O ICs for emerging bus standards such as USB and IEEE-1394 Firewire. Alcor raised $1.5 million in first round seed equity from investors including Northstar Systems and will seek an additional $3 million in mid. '98. An IPO is expected before the year 2000. Revenues of $12 million are forecasted in '98, increasing to $30 million in '99. The company has 10 employees.

Alcor is developing USB and 1394 ICs targeted at keyboard, monitor, printer and scanner peripheral manufacturers. The initial products are USB controllers fully compliant with the USB 1.0 Spec. The devices support both high and low speed peripherals and contain an embedded proprietary RISC processor. The AU9412 keyboard/hub controller contains all the logic necessary for keyboard control. Alcor's patented SCAN-TABLE technology enables custom key codes to be easily implemented for various keyboard applications. The device supports 2 bus-powered downstream USB ports for USB peripherals such as mice, joysticks and game pads. DIP packaging is used for low cost keyboard manufacturing. The AU9216 USB Hub Controller can support up to six downstream ports. It supports individual port activity LEDs, over-current sensing and power switch control for each port. An optional EEPROM can be used for Vendor ID and product ID customization.

The company claims to have aggressive product specifications, advanced architectures and a 6-month lead over its competitors, which include WinBond, Cypress, Intel and UMC amongst others. No customer design-wins have been announced yet, however several top tier keyboard peripheral manufacturers are working with Alcor. Foundry partners include Samsung, LG and UMC. Alcor has a branch office in Taiwan and already has sales reps. in Japan and Korea.

Arthur Lo, CEO & cofounder
Bob Thunell, president & cofounder
Rong Zing Liu, CFO & cofounder
Don Chang, VP, engineering & cofounder
Dennis Chang, VP, marketing & cofounder, Dennis@Alcormicro.com

San Jose Office:
2901 Tasman Drive, Suite 206
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Tel: 408.845.9300 Fax: 408.845.9086




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