C-Cube
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| Public company | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: CUBE |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Fate | Acquired by LSI Logic in 2001. Subsequently acquired by Magnum Semiconductor in 2007 |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Defunct | Acquired by LSI Logic in 2001. Subsequently acquired by Magnum Semiconductor in 2007 |
| Headquarters | Milpitas, California |
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Key people
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Edmund Sun, co-founder Alex Balkanski, co-founder Bill O'Meara, CEO Don Valentine, Chairman |
| Products | Video Compression |
C-Cube Microsystems was an early company in video compression technology as well as the implementation of that technology into inexpensive semiconductor integrated circuits. C-Cube was the first company to deliver on the market opportunity presented by the conversion of image and video data from analog to digital formats enabling markets such as VideoCD, DVD, DirecTV, digital cable and non-linear editing systems.
C-Cube was founded on 8 August 1988 (the number eight being significant in Chinese culture representing money) by Edmund Sun from Weitek and Alexandre Balkanski. The company name originally stood for Creative Circuits Corporation but over time the three C's in C-Cube referred to the markets being served by video compression technology, specifically Computer, Consumer and Communications. Early funding came from VC firms Hambrecht & Quist and JAFCO America Ventures as well as Japanese farm equipment manufacturer Kubota Ltd.
Image and video technology was just beginning to make the transition from analog (VHS, Betamax, etc.) to new digital-base formats. The key issue was the amount of bandwidth required to transmit or store the digital content. Digital video compression was a key enabling technology that made digital video practical. C-Cube engineers drove the early standards for digital compression - including Eric Hamilton, chair of the JPEG committee and Didier LeGall, chair of the MPEG video committee. As a result of their familiarity of the standardization process and the standards themselves, C-Cube was able to gain advantageous knowledge in the implementation of the algorithms into high-performance silicon.
Early on, the company was recognized for technical leadership but was largely unable to turn leadership into revenues and profits. The company found focus with the hiring of Bill O'Meara as CEO in 1991. He hired a new professional management staff and procured $10 million in added investment from Sequoia Capital, Texas Instruments and AMD in late 1992 and enabled the company to drive toward profitability based on the development of products including the CL550 JPEG codec, the CL950 MPEG II (prototype) decoder and the CL450 MPEG I decoder.
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