Altera
Altera Corporation is a manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) headquartered in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015 before becoming independent once again in 2024 as a company focused primarily on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology and system on a chip FPGAs.
Not to be confused with Altria Group.Company type
June 1983
$1.932 billion (2014)
$472 million (2014)
$5.674 billion (2014)
$3.285 billion (2014)
3,091 (2014)
The company was founded in 1983 by semiconductor veterans Rodney Smith, Robert Hartmann, James Sansbury, and Paul Newhagen with $500,000 in seed money. The name of the company was a play on "alterable", the type of chips the company created. In 1984, the company formed a long-running design partnership with Intel, and 1988, became a public company via an initial public offering (IPO). In 1994, Altera acquired the PLD business of Intel for $50 million.[2]
On December 28, 2015, the company was acquired by Intel and became a newly formed business unit called Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).[3] In October 2023, Intel announced it would be spinning off PSG into a separate company at the start of 2024, while maintaining majority ownership and intending to seek an IPO within three years.[4][5] In February 2024, Intel announced that the newly independent company would reestablish the Altera name and branding.[6]
Restatement of financial results[edit]
On June 21, 2006, after an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company restated its financial results from 1996 to 2005 to correct accounting errors related to options backdating. The chief financial officer of the company resigned.[19][20][21] Altera filed a petition to overturn related regulations but was, under Intel, denied in 2020.[22]
Acquisition by Intel[edit]
In December 2015, Intel acquired Altera for $16.7 billion in cash.[23][24] Altera became Intel's newly formed business unit called the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).[3] The Altera brand was phased-out quickly after, with all of Altera's products being re-branded as Intel.
In October 2023, Intel announced it would be spinning off PSG into a separate company at the start of 2024, while maintaining majority ownership and intending to seek an IPO within three years.[4][5] In February 2024, Intel announced that the newly independent company would reestablish the Altera name and branding.[6]