NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR, Inc.
 

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

National has a dual technology environment. The Information Services (IS) division manages the company's internal infrastructure. The Engineering division creates its products. Hardware used in IS includes an IBM 9672, tens of IBM AIX systems and clusters of model 20 and 40 Dell servers. Application development on legacy systems is in COBOL and CA-ADSO. In the client server environment, development is in Visual Basic, with web enabling under SilverStream. Additional software used includes SAP, ISS (from Portal), and Ariba for purchasing goods used indirectly in the manufacturing process, such as office supplies. In addition, the company uses i2 for planning, and Workstream, a manufacturing execution system (MES), for tracking the movement of goods on the shop floor. The company also uses speech synthesis, like Lotus Notes' text-to-voice software, to read an employee's emails to them over the phone.

There are 7,400 PCs in the company, including 2,000 at corporate headquarters. Communication hardware comes from Bay Networks, Nortel, Nextlink, and Cirent. The company also supports Palm Pilots and laptops. As Seif says, "We are in Silicon Valley. Everyone who walks in comes in with a new gadget."

The recent implementation of Ariba is a representative project for IS. Twelve to fifteen staff members mapped business needs with the system's capabilities, using a structured design approach over a ten-week period. New technologies being investigated include wireless connectivity, combining voice and data networks, and design collaboration. Says Seif, "We want our customers' engineers to be able to use National's intellectual property to put a new product together, design it on a chip, and then we will manufacture it on their behalf."

top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index
 

CULTURE OVERVIEW

Two thousand of the company's employees work at corporate headquarters. National has manufacturing sites in Maine and Texas, and in Scotland, Singapore, and Malaysia. There are technical professionals supporting each of these sites. Headquarters is located in a 10-building campus. All technical staff members in IS, including the CIO, work in private cubicles. Official hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Technical staff members work an average of forty to fifty hours a week, depending on the stage of a project. Travel requirements are dependent on the unit being supported. Those working on international projects may travel extensively. The company helps organize alternate commuting options. Dress ranges from business casual to very casual.

National pays the majority of costs for medical, dental, and vision insurance, and offers a range of HMO and point-of-service plans. The company pays for life insurance for employees and business travel accident insurance. Supplemental life insurance and long- and short-term disability insurance are available. National observes 11 holidays a year. Employees earn three weeks of vacation to start, increasing to four weeks after ten years. Employees get their birthday off. Coffee is free. The company contributes to employees' 401(k) plans and to a profit-sharing program when it meets performance goals. Employees may purchase stock at a 15 percent discount. The company organizes volunteer opportunities and matches employee contributions to schools, as well as offering cash contributions to organizations where employees volunteer their time. The company offers cash awards to employees who earn patents. They offer 100 percent tuition reimbursement and a scholarship program for employees' children. There is a company credit union and discounts on tickets to local amusement parks, such as Disneyland. The company offers employees onsite services that include dental appointments, car wash and oil changes, and laundry and dry cleaning pick-up and delivery.

There is an on-site gym, with personal fitness trainers available for a small fee, as well as exercise classes and on-site massages. The company park has soccer and baseball fields, volleyball and basketball courts, a picnic area, jogging trail, fountains, a lake, and an amphitheater. Social activities include an annual summer picnic (Dana Carvey was a featured entertainer at the Year 2000 picnic) and a winter holiday dinner. Company-sponsored sports teams include golf, softball, bowling, skiing, running, tennis, and white water rafting. The semiconductor business is a cyclical industry and National has had layoffs. They offer affected employees a severance package based on length of service with the company and provide outplacement services.

top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index
 

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

In 1959, eight engineers left Sperry Rand Corporation to found National Semiconductor in Danford, Connecticut. The company's first products were diffused silicon transistors. By 1962, their integrated circuits were being used in space vehicles, including the Mariner 10 Venus probe. In 1968, corporate headquarters was moved to Silicon Valley. During the 1970s, National expanded its product base to include calculators, watches, grocery checkout machines, mainframe computers, and cameras. In addition, its chips found their way into fuel injection systems, seat belt locking devices, and anti-skid controls. Industry firsts included the first 16-bit single-card microprocessor, the first semiconductor absolute pressure transducer, the first single-chip 16-bit microprocessor, and the first single-chip data acquisition system. The industry's first one-volt analog integrated circuit and the first radio-frequency remote control circuit followed these.

In the 1980s, National introduced the first speech synthesizer and launched the fastest VLSI graphics engine in the industry. Its microprocessor was integrated into laser printers, and the company became the largest supplier of Ethernet controller chips. By the 1990s, its coding/decoding (codec) device was being used on approximately 200 million telephones and it partnered with Energizer Power Systems to develop "smart" batteries for notebook computers and cordless power tools. In 1999, National introduced the first high performance color scanner on a chip and launched WebPAD at COMDEX. WebPAD is a portable touchscreen wireless Internet-access device. National competes on the depth of its intellectual property portfolio and experience in designing custom and mass-market devices. Competitors include Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Analog Devices, Linear Technology, and Maxim.

top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index
 

CANDIDATES

IS has 397 technical professionals company-wide, including 225 at corporate headquarters. Current employees, on average, have a Bachelor's degree and fifteen years or more of experience. Experienced candidates have at least a Bachelor's degree and five years of experience. The company is currently recruiting for candidates with project management and web application development experience. In addition, says Seif, "We look for people who are creative. We look at problems as challenges, as opportunities, then it is way more fun." Adds Lorri Woodruff, Human Resources Business Partner, "Candidates should have good communication skills, a strong customer focus, and a team orientation." Additional technical skills being sought include database and systems administration experience. The company does hire entry-level candidates. They should have a Bachelor's or Master's degree, preferably above a 3.0 grade point average, and some intern experience. Says Seif, "We are willing to hire people with a business background and a good business sense. We have strong people who can train those with a business background in technical skills, but the reverse is harder."

Job titles include: Entry-level Programmer, Intermediate, Staff, Principal, and Member of the Technical Staff. There are similar paths for Analysts, Administrators, Network Engineers, and Factory Systems Engineers. There is a dual technical/management career path, with Entry-level, Intermediate, and Senior Managers. The executive level includes Manager, Director, and Vice President. The company hired 26 technical professionals in IS in the last year, including 14 for entry-level positions.

Top schools for recruiting entry-level candidates include Cal State Hayward, San Jose State, and Santa Clara. The company expects to hire between 10 technical professionals in the next year, including three for entry-level positions. Candidates are found through college recruiting (21 percent), employee referrals (17 percent; there is a bonus), internal job postings (15 percent), unsolicited resumes (13 percent), online recruiting (12 percent; monster.com, jobtrak.com), temp-to-hire contractors (12 percent), re-hires (3 percent), job fairs (3 percent), employment agencies (2 percent), and advertisements (2 percent).

top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index
 

SAMPLE JOB LISTINGS
 

Job Title

Education

Experience

Skills

Location

Application Engineer

    

Provide technical information to customers designing in National ICs

South Portland, Maine

Software Application Engineer

 

5 years

C++, Continuous, GNU Tool Chain, Pantera SDK, Korean language a plus

Fremont, California

Principal Software Engineer

   

NDIS 3,4,5, Linux

Longmont, Colorado

Systems Development Engineer

BA//BS or MA/MS

0 years

Computer architecture, peripherals, components, ICs, system design

Santa Clara, California

top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index
 

ARTICLES

  • CNET News.com, "National Targets Net Devices Boom with Low-Power Chip," April 11, 2000
  • CNET News.com, "National Semi, Liberate Team on Set-Tops," May 9, 2000
  • Information Week, "Tapping the Pipeline," March 15, 1999
  • NetworkWorld, "What Went Wrong with ASPs?" October 29, 2001
top of page | NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR overview | Corporate Profiles index