Altera Corp.

Overview

Altera Corp., based in San Jose, Calif., is a semiconductor company specializing in reprogrammable logic devices, a technology it invented in 1984. It also designs embedded processors and provides customers with chip-software development tools. The company licenses its semiconductor reference designs and other intellectural property.

In 2009, Altera Corp. was named the Best Managed Company in the semiconductors category by Forbes.com. That same year, in the midst of the global economic downturn, the chipmaker laid off 87 employees, or less than 3% of its work force.

The Semiconductor Industry Association elected Altera CEO John Daane as its chairman for 2010. In 2009, Yahoo Inc. hired away Altera CFO Tim Morse after he spent just two years at the company.

Culture

Recruiting

Altera has an unusually proactive human-resources department. The employee relations manager usually suggests teamwork-building skills to team leaders. The culture is built on communication, with HR managers encouraging managers to talk with their employees, according to HR Magazine.

• Corporate Culture
  
• Benefits
  
• Altera Forum
  

Facts & Resources

Resources

• About Altera
  
• Management Bios
  
• Milestones
  
• Fact Sheet
  
• Events
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• YouTube
  

Subsidiaries & Divisions

• TimeLab Corp.
  
• BOPS Inc.
  
• Northwest Logic Inc.
  
• DesignPro Inc.
  

Competitors

• Actel Corp.
  
• Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
  
• Xilinx Inc.