EZchip Semiconductor

EZchip Semiconductor is a publicly traded fabless semiconductor company that develops and markets Ethernet network processors. Headquartered in Yokneam, Israel, its shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

History

EZchip was co-founded in 1999 by Eli Fruchter, a Technion graduate in the field of electrical engineering and veteran of the Israel Defense Forces' 8200 intelligence unit, and Alex Tal who served as Ezchip's first CTO and V.P R&D. Until 2008, EZchip operated as a subsidiary of LANOptics, then a developer of Ethernet switching chips and security software. After LANOptics completed its full acquisition of EZchip in January 2008, it changed its name to EZchip and its ticker symbol from LNOP to EZCH. Over the twelve-month period leading up to February 2012, shares of EZchip rose 40% on the Nasdaq index as demand for its processors grew and speculation increased that the company would get bought out.

In July 2014, EZchip acquired Tilera, a company that develops high-performance multi-core processors, intelligent network interface cards and white-box appliances for data-center networking equipment, $130 million in cash.