For the former computer game manufacturer see Sierra Entertainment. For the wireless equipment maker see Sierra Wireless.

Founded	1984
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, USA
Key people	CEO, and President: Greg Lang Chairman: Robert L. "Bob" Bailey
Industry	fabless semiconductor company
Website	*PMC-Sierra Corporate Website

PMC-Sierra NASDAQ: PMCS is a fabless semiconductor company which develops and sells devices into the communications, storage, printing, and embedded computing marketplaces.

Contents 1 Corporate history 2 Office locations 3 Corporate Restructurings 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Corporate history

Sierra Semiconductor was originally founded in 1984 in San Jose, California, and went public in 1991. It received funding on 1/11/1984 from Sequoia Capital.

Pacific Microelectronics Centre (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) was spun off from Microtel Pacific Research (the research arm of BC TEL at the time) to develop ATM and later SONET chips. With investment from Sierra Semiconductor, PMC was established in 1992 as a private company focused on providing networking semiconductors, and became a wholly owned, independently operated subsidiary of Sierra Semiconductor in 1994. Microtel is currently a part of Verizon.

In August 1996, Sierra Semiconductor announced its decision to exit the personal computer modem chipset business, to restructure its other non-networking products and focus on its networking products. In 1997, the Company changed its name to PMC-Sierra to reflect the corporate focus on internetworking semiconductor solutions.

[edit] Office locations

As of 2009, PMC-Sierra operates from nine locations throughout the world.

USA Corporate Head Office in Santa Clara, CA

Canada Operations Head Office in Burnaby, B.C.

As well as design centres, located in Burnaby, British Columbia; Montreal, Quebec; Beaverton, Oregon;
Santa Clara, California; Roseville, California; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; and Herzliya, Israel.

[edit] Corporate Restructurings

The company has experienced multiple restructurings to meet the current demands on the market.

Date	Sites Affected	Groups Affected	Number of Employees Terminated
August 1996	San Jose, CA	Sierra PC Modem team	150 people [1]
June 1997	San Jose, CA	PMC Sierra overtook its parent, Sierra Semiductor and shutdown most of Sierra's operations.	Unknown [2]
2001	Burnaby, British Columbia; Santa Clara, CA; Kanata, Ontario	Internet Routing Division shutdown - the Abrizio, Extreme, Malleable and SwitchOn teams	350 people or 24% of total workforce. [3] [4]
January 2003	All sites affected.	majority of IgT; Toucan and Octera groups	176 people [5]
June 2005	Santa Clara, CA	full-custom design team of Microprocessor Products Division - the QED team	89 people [6]
January 2006	Santa Clara, CA; Portland OR	ASIC design teams of Microprocessor Products Division, remaining IgT team	30 people
August 2006	Ottawa, Ontario - shut down	various	30 to 40 people [7]
March 2007	Winnipeg, Manitoba; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - both shut down; Bangalore, India	Hypercore team, Winnipeg validation team, Montreal digital design team, Banglore SSG group	175 people [8]
December 2007	Burnaby, others	CPE team, Burnaby operations, others	18 people [9]

[edit] External links

• PMC-Sierra Corporate Website
• Profile of Sierra Semiconductor p307
• 8/31/1996 NY Times aricle about Sierra

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/31/business/sierra-semiconductor-expects-to-cut-150-employees.html SIERRA SEMICONDUCTOR EXPECTS TO CUT 150 EMPLOYEES. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
2. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is_n2172_v43/ai_19530977/ Former Sierra Semi completes restructuring. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
3. ^ http://www.edn.com/article/CA184683.html PMC Maximizes Acquisitions: Brownridge details restructuring. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
4. ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/pmc-sierra-lay-off-350/story.aspx?guid=%7B38F50E04-D5BF-4019-B3E9-5C533945C62D%7D PMC-Sierra to lay off 350. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
5. ^ http://www.edn.com/article/CA271159.html PMC-Sierra Lays Off 176. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
6. ^ http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/financial-performance/6244647-1.html PMC-Sierra Cuts 89 Jobs. Electronic News. July 4, 2005. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
7. ^ http://www.edn.com/article/CA6367465.html More Layoffs at PMC-Sierra. Electronic News, 8/31/2006. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
8. ^ http://www.edn.com/article/CA271159.html PMC-Sierra closes R&D centers, cuts 175 jobs. Electronic News 3/30/2007. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
9. ^ 10-K SEC Filing by PMC Sierra on 02/26/09. Retrieved on 2009-03-29