Semtech history

The company reported an annual profit of $179,000, the first time Semtech had reported an annual profit since fiscal 1981.

As sales fell, losses grew; for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1982, Semtech reported losses of $36,000 on sales of $13.81 million.

Cofounder Stump was elected Semtech chairman in February 1984 only to resign six months later, citing personal reasons.

1985: John 'Jack' Poe is elected CEO and president of Semtech.

Sales were lower than the $6.10 million reached during the first half of fiscal 1986 because of a soft semiconductor market, but Semtech managed to pare down losses further, from $692,000 to $36,000.

Also in 1988 the company launched a line of power rectifiers.

Modupower, which was formed in 1990, manufactured DC/DC converters, power-supply modules, and voltage regulators.

To further establish its presence in the power regulator business, Semtech purchased the assets of Modupower Inc. in 1992.

By 1993 sales to military and aerospace interests had dropped significantly.

The first commercial OPC system was installed already in 1994 at Boliden and is still in daily use, with the same optics and spectrometer! (The electronics, software and know how have of course evolved with time). Semtech is nowadays located in two cities on the Swedish west coast.

As a result, shares of Semtech jumped from about $2 a share to more than $19 a share during the first six months of 1995.

In June 1996 Semtech announced plans to establish a design center in Santa Clara, California.

In April 1998 Semtech purchased Acapella Ltd., a United Kingdom-based designer of mixed-signal integrated circuits for fiber-optic communications.