NXP Semiconductors

Philips entered the semiconductor industry in 1953, with semiconductor manufacturing and development in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In 1983 Philips introduced the TDA7000, an FM radio receiver that NXP describes as the first complete radio on a chip; in 1991 Philips developed the first CAN/LIN transceiver for in-vehicle networking; and in 1992 it produced the first design of a one-chip TV. Philips Semiconductors was founded in 1993.⁠[1]

In 1994 Philips launched the MIFARE 1K chip for automatic fare collection; in 1995 the Dirana car audio digital signal processor; in 1996 LDMOS technology for RF power amplifiers in cellular base stations; and in 1997 the GreenChip power supply chip to improve the energy efficiency of TVs, notebooks and desktops. In 2002 Philips Semiconductors and Sony co-invented Near Field Communication (NFC). In 2004 Philips released the first angular sensor offered as a system-in-package.⁠[1]

In August 2006 Philips announced that it would sell a majority of its semiconductor business to a consortium of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKRKKRKKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) is an investment firm engaged in alternative asset management, capital markets services, and insurance. Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis, and George Roberts co-founded the firm in 1976. Its managed funds invest in private equity, credit, and real assets, and its subsidiary Global Atlantic operates retirement, life insurance, and reinsurance businesses. KKR listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010 under the ticker KKR.Open the full entry), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners in a deal priced at €8.3 billion, from which Philips expected to net €6.4 billion.⁠[2]

On August 21, 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had joined the private equity consortium; the transaction was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006, subject to closing conditions including governmental and regulatory approvals.⁠[3]

The acquisition vehicle, KASLION Acquisition B.V., was incorporated in the Netherlands on August 2, 2006.⁠[4]

In September 2006 Philips Semiconductors announced that it would operate as NXP, a company independent of Royal PhilipsPhilipsPhilips (Koninklijke Philips N.V.) is a health technology company founded in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father, Frederik Philips, and now headquartered in Amsterdam; it was long known for lighting and consumer electronics such as the compact cassette and the CD, and was one of TSMC’s founding shareholders.Open the full entry. NXP was then Europe’s second-largest semiconductor company and a global top-ten player; it had more than 6,700 R&D engineers and set up a center for emerging technologies with close to 600 scientists from Philips Research and Applied Technologies.⁠[5]

On September 29, 2006, Philips completed the sale of 80.1% of its semiconductor businesses to the private equity consortium, and the businesses were transferred to NXP B.V.; the consortium and Philips contributed cash to KASLION in exchange for 80.1% and 19.9% interests respectively.⁠[6]

On August 11, 2008, Conexant completed the sale of its Broadband Media Processing product lines, which served satellite, cable, terrestrial and IPTV set-top box applications, to NXP. NXP paid about $110 million in cash plus an earn-out of up to $35 million tied to milestones through the end of 2009, and about 700 Conexant employees joined NXP.⁠[7]

On December 31, 2008, NXP announced that Richard L. Clemmer, a member of its Supervisory Board, would succeed Frans van Houten as president and CEO from January 1, 2009, with van Houten resigning and leaving NXP. Clemmer had most recently been CEO of Agere Systems, had served as CFO of Quantum Corporation and had spent 23 years at Texas InstrumentsTexas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Incorporated is an American company that designs and manufactures semiconductors. Its operations began in 1930, and it is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.Open the full entry.⁠[8]

On May 21, 2010, KASLION Acquisition B.V. converted into a public company with limited liability and was renamed NXP Semiconductors N.V.⁠[4]

In August 2010 NXP Semiconductors N.V. made an initial public offering of 34 million shares of common stock at $14.00 per share (the prospectus is dated August 5), all offered by the company, with an underwriters’ option for up to 5.1 million additional shares; the shares were listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol NXPI.⁠[4]

NXP Semiconductors N.V. joined the NASDAQ-100 Index in 2013 and was added to the S&P 500 IndexS&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry in 2021.⁠[1]

Datang NXP Semiconductors was established in 2014; NXP describes it as China’s first true automotive semiconductor business.⁠[1]

On March 2, 2015, NXP and Freescale Semiconductor announced a merger agreement under which each Freescale common share would be exchanged for $6.25 in cash plus 0.3521 of an NXP ordinary share; Freescale shareholders would own about 32% of the combined company, and the deal was expected to close in the second half of 2015. The combined enterprise value was just over $40 billion, with combined revenue of more than $10 billion; the announcement put Freescale’s total enterprise value at about $16.7 billion including net debt and its equity value at about $11.8 billion.⁠[9]

NXP CEO Richard Clemmer was to remain president and CEO of the merged company.⁠[10]

On May 28, 2015, NXP announced the sale of its RF Power business for $1.8 billion to Jianguang Asset Management Co. Ltd (JAC Capital), a subsidiary of a state-owned investment company; about 2,000 employees, including the entire management team, were to move to an independent Netherlands-incorporated company to be wholly acquired by JAC Capital at closing. NXP said it had committed to selling the business in order to continue with the Freescale merger and that the proceeds would partly fund the Freescale acquisition.⁠[11]

On December 7, 2015, NXP completed its merger with Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd., and on the same day completed the sale of its RF Power business to Jianguang Asset Management Co. Ltd. After the merger NXP had 45,000 employees in more than 35 countries.⁠[12]

NXP says the merger made it the world’s fourth-largest semiconductor company and the largest automotive supplier. Freescale had its roots in Motorola, which formed a semiconductor development group in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1949, launched its first microprocessor, the 8-bit MC6800, in 1974 and the MC68020 true 32-bit microprocessor in 1984; in 2004 Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector became Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.⁠[1]

On June 14, 2016, NXP announced the sale of its Standard Products business for about $2.75 billion to a consortium of financial investors, Beijing Jianguang Asset Management Co., Ltd (JAC Capital) and Wise Road Capital LTD. The business supplied discrete, logic and PowerMOS semiconductors and had fiscal 2015 revenue of $1.2 billion; about 11,000 NXP employees were to transfer to the new company, Nexperia, and closing was expected in the first quarter of 2017.⁠[13]

On October 27, 2016, Qualcomm and NXP announced that QualcommQualcommQualcomm is a semiconductor and wireless technology company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985 by Irwin Jacobs and six other former Linkabit colleagues, it built its business on CDMA technology and now rests on two pillars: its Snapdragon chip platforms and the licensing of cellular standard-essential patents. It has faced antitrust investigations and litigation in many jurisdictions, and in recent years has expanded into automotive, IoT, PCs and AI data centers.Open the full entry, through a subsidiary, would make a tender offer for all issued and outstanding NXP common shares at $110.00 per share in cash, for an enterprise value of about $47 billion. The offer required tenders of at least 95% of the shares (80% if NXP shareholders approved a contemplated asset sale) and was expected to close by the end of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals.⁠[14]

On February 7, 2017, NXP announced that it had completed the divestiture of its Standard Products business, which became an independent company, Nexperia, focused on discretes, logic and MOSFETs.⁠[15]

In February 2018 Qualcomm and NXP entered into an amended definitive agreement that raised the tender offer price to $127.50 per share in cash and lowered the minimum tender threshold to 70% of the outstanding shares.⁠[16]

On July 26, 2018, Qualcomm announced the termination of its acquisition of NXP, with Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. paying NXP a $2 billion termination fee.⁠[17]

NXP said the termination followed the inability to obtain the required approval from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) before the end date agreed by the parties; on the same day NXP announced a $5 billion share repurchase authorization.⁠[18]

On May 29, 2019, NXP announced an all-cash asset deal worth $1.76 billion to acquire Marvell’s Wi-Fi Connectivity business, including its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology portfolios and related assets; the business had about 550 employees and roughly $300 million in revenue in Marvell’s fiscal 2019.⁠[19]

Marvell announced the completion of the transaction on December 6, 2019.⁠[20]

On May 27, 2020, NXP’s annual general meeting elected Kurt Sievers as executive director and CEO, effective immediately; Richard Clemmer, who had led the company for 11 years, stayed on as a strategic advisor. Sievers joined Philips Semiconductors in 1995, had been a member of the executive management team since 2009 and had been NXP’s president since September 2018.⁠[21]

On August 8, 2023, TSMCTSMCTSMC is a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, that pioneered the pure-play foundry model and manufactures chips for hundreds of customers worldwide.Open the full entry, Bosch, Infineon and NXP announced the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) GmbH joint venture in Dresden, Germany, with TSMC holding 70% and Bosch, Infineon and NXP 10% each, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions. Total investment was expected to exceed €10 billion, with construction planned to begin in the second half of 2024 and production targeted for the end of 2027.⁠[22]

On June 5, 2024, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS) and NXP announced the VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd (VSMC) joint venture to build a 300mm wafer fab in Singapore to be operated by VIS, with VIS holding 60% and NXP 40%. The initial build-out was expected to cost $7.8 billion, with VIS injecting $2.4 billion and NXP $1.6 billion, and initial production was expected to be available to customers in 2027.⁠[23][24]

On January 7, 2025, NXP announced an all-cash agreement to acquire TTTech Auto of Vienna, Austria, for $625 million, bringing about 1,100 engineering staff to NXP.⁠[25]

The acquisition was completed on June 17, 2025.⁠[26]

TTTech Auto was later renamed TrustMotion. In 2025 NXP also acquired port GmbH, adding industrial protocol expertise.⁠[1]

NXP announced the acquisitions of Aviva Links, a provider of in-vehicle connectivity solutions, and Kinara, a developer of discrete neural processing units (NPUs), in December 2024 and February 2025 respectively, for $243 million and $307 million in cash before closing adjustments; the deals closed on October 24 and October 27, 2025, respectively.⁠[27]

On April 28, 2025, NXP announced that Kurt Sievers would retire. On October 28, 2025, Sievers stepped down as CEO and executive director, and the board unanimously appointed Rafael Sotomayor as president and CEO and as temporary executive director, effective the same day.⁠[28]

Sotomayor joined NXP in 2014 and held several business line general manager roles in the mobile, industrial and IoT segments, joining the executive management team in 2020; after leading the Secure Connected Edge business, he became president in April 2025.⁠[29]

On October 27, 2026, NXP posted third-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.79 billion, up 19% year on year and 8% sequentially, and announced a $5 billion increase in its share repurchase authorization. During the quarter, NXP announced on August 4 that BMW would deploy NXP’s Trimension UWB ranging and radar solutions starting with selected 2026 vehicle programs; on August 12 NXP broke ground on an assembly and test expansion in Malaysia; and on September 28 the VSMC joint venture opened its first 300mm fab in Singapore.⁠[30]

In 2009 NXP launched the PN544, the first industry-standard NFC IC. In 2011 it launched the SafeAssure functional safety program and shipped Arm Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M3 microcontrollers; in 2012 it launched the JN516x wireless microcontroller family for the Internet of Things and MIFARE Ultralight EV1, a smart paper ticketing IC. In 2013 NXP launched the first 77 GHz radar IC for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and shipped its one billionth GreenChip IC. In 2015 NXP engineers won the European Inventor Award for NFC.⁠[1]

In 2017 NXP introduced the S32 automotive platform with a scalable computing architecture and says it was ranked the number-one microcontroller supplier, with a 19% market share, by IC Insights. In 2018 NXP, Mastercard and Visa launched mWallet 2GO, a mobile payment solution for IoT devices. In 2019 NXP unveiled secure ultra-wideband ranging technology and introduced the EdgeVerse brand platform for its edge computing portfolio. In 2020 NXP selected TSMC’s 5nm process for its next-generation automotive platform, introduced the S32G vehicle networking processor and advanced 5G with a new gallium nitride fab in Arizona.⁠[1]

NXP’s revenue was $6,321 million in 2007, $5,443 million in 2008 and $3,843 million in 2009, as presented in its 2010 prospectus.⁠[4]

On a continuing operations basis, NXP’s revenue was $4,402 million in 2010 and $3,519 million in 2009.⁠[31]

NXP’s revenue was $4,815 million in 2013 and $5,647 million in 2014.⁠[32]

NXP’s revenue was $6,101 million in 2015 and $9,498 million in 2016.⁠[33]

NXP’s revenue was $9,256 million in 2017 and $9,407 million in 2018.⁠[34]

NXP’s revenue was $8,877 million in 2019 and $8,612 million in 2020.⁠[35]

NXP’s 2021 revenue was $11.06 billion, up 28% year on year.⁠[36]

NXP’s 2022 revenue was $13.21 billion, up 19.4% year on year.⁠[37]

NXP’s 2023 revenue was $13.28 billion, up 1% year on year.⁠[38]

NXP’s 2024 revenue was $12.61 billion, down 5% year on year.⁠[39]

NXP’s 2025 revenue was $12.27 billion, down 3% year on year; fourth-quarter revenue was $3.34 billion, up 7% year on year.⁠[40]

In 2010 NXP Semiconductors N.V. had its corporate seat in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and its principal executive office at High Tech Campus 60, Eindhoven. As of April 4, 2010, it had about 28,000 full-time equivalent employees in more than 25 countries.⁠[4]

At the end of the third quarter of 2007, NXP had 38,116 full-time equivalent employees.⁠[6]

The company’s website states that it has about 32,000 team members and a presence in more than 30 countries.⁠[41]

The company describes itself as a partner for innovative solutions in the automotive, industrial and IoT, mobile and communications infrastructure markets.⁠[30]

As of November 2026, NXP’s management team included president and CEO Rafael Sotomayor, executive vice president and CFO Bill Betz, and executive vice president and CTO Lars Reger, among others; non-executive director Julie Southern has chaired the board since May 2023.⁠[29]

NXP Semiconductors: Official website: https://www.nxp.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[42]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nxp-semiconductors/ (opens in a new window).⁠[42]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NXPDeveloperZone (opens in a new window).⁠[42]