Lattice Semiconductor

Founding and early growth[edit]

Lattice was founded on April 3, 1983, by C. Norman Winningstad, Rahul Sud, and Ray Capece,^[10] with investment from Winningstad, Harry Merlo, Tom Moyer, and John Piacentini.^[10] Lattice was incorporated in Oregon in 1983 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1985. Co-founder Sud left as president in December 1986, and Winningstad left in 1991 as chairman of the board.^[10] Early struggles led to chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in July 1987.^[10] The company emerged from bankruptcy after 62 days and moved from its headquarters in an unincorporated area near Beaverton to a smaller building in Hillsboro, Oregon.^[11] Over the next year, the company shrank from 140 to 64 employees but posted record revenues.^[12]


Cyrus Tsui became the company's chief executive officer in 1988.^[13] On November 9, 1989, Lattice became a publicly traded company when its shares were listed on the NASDAQ after in initial public offering.^[14] The initial share price was $6, and raised almost $14 million for the company.^[14] In July 1990, a second stock offering of nearly 1.5 million new shares raised $22.6 million at $16.25 per share.^[15]


In 1995, the company attempted to assert trademark rights in the term Silicon Forest beyond the use of its trademark for the use in semiconductor devices.^[16] They had registered the mark in 1985, but later conceded they could not prevent the usage of the term as a noun.^[16] Forbes ranked the company as their 162nd best small company in the United States in 1996,^[17] and Lattice began to double the size of its Hillsboro headquarters.^[13]


In 2000, annual revenues topped $560 million with profits of $160 million.^[18] Its stock price reached an all-time high of $41.34, adjusted for splits.^[18] For the next five years, however, the company recorded no annual profit.