NetLogic Microsystems

This case examines the challenges encountered by a start-up company that seeks to operate on a global basis virtually from day one. Based in Mountain View, California, NetLogic Microsystems is a fabless semiconductor company that was founded by a semiconductor industry veteran in 1996. The case follows the founder’s efforts to identify and research the initial opportunity, hire staff and senior management, fund product development, generate sales, form partnerships and alliances (many of them international), raise institutional capital, and evaluate a possible acquisition. Because of the nature of the semiconductor industry, which finds many steps of its value chain rooted in Asia and other countries around the world, NetLogic had to be global early on in its life cycle. Despite the fact that its founder and management team possessed international roots and connections, being global presented NetLogic with a host of challenges not typically faced by an average start-up. Teaching Note available.