Marvell Technology, Inc.
Company History
Marvell History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 1995 in Santa Clara, California
When was Marvell founded?
Marvell was founded in 1995 in Santa Clara, California by Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja, making it 31 years old.
- Founded
- 1995
- Founding place
- Santa Clara, California
- Founders
- Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja
- Headquarters today
- Santa Clara, California
- Milestones documented
- 15 (1995–2026)
- Current CEO
- Matthew J. Murphy
- Acquisitions
- 4
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Marvell founded |
| 2000 | Nasdaq IPO |
| 2001 | Galileo Technology acquired |
| 2006 | Intel XScale business acquired |
| 2016 | Matt Murphy becomes CEO |
| 2018 | Cavium acquired |
| 2019 | Aquantia and Avera Semi acquired |
| 2021 | Inphi acquired and move to Delaware |
| 2021 | Innovium acquired |
| 2025 | Automotive Ethernet sold to Infineon |
| 2026 | Celestial AI acquisition closes |
| 2026 | Fiscal 2026 revenue of $8.195 billion |
| 2026 | Nvidia invests $2 billion |
| 2026 | Dan Durn named CFO |
| 2026 | Record Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue |
- Where was Marvell founded?
- Marvell was founded in Santa Clara, California in 1995.
- Who founded Marvell?
- Marvell was founded by Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja.
- When did Marvell start?
- Marvell was founded in 1995.
- How old is Marvell?
- Marvell is 31 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Marvell was founded in 1995 by UC Berkeley-trained engineers Sehat Sutardja, his wife Weili Dai and his brother Pantas Sutardja. Its first products were CMOS read-channel chips for hard disk drives, which won business from drive makers such as Seagate and Western Digital. The company went public on Nasdaq in 2000, then expanded into Ethernet with the 2001 purchase of Galileo Technology.
Founders
Sehat Sutardja
Sehat Sutardja (1961-2024) was born in Indonesia and earned his master's and PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley. He co-founded Marvell in 1995 with Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja and served as chief executive for 21 years, taking the company public in 2000 and building a large storage and networking chip business. In 2016, after an audit committee investigation into sales practices and pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, he left the CEO role and later the board. He then co-founded chiplet-packaging company Silicon Box. He died on September 18, 2024, at age 63. He and Dai donated to UC Berkeley, where Sutardja Dai Hall bears their names. Education: University of California, Berkeley; Iowa State University; Canisius College.
Weili Dai
Weili Dai was born in Shanghai and studied computer science at UC Berkeley. She co-founded Marvell in 1995 with her husband Sehat Sutardja and his brother Pantas, and led sales, operations and partnerships, later serving as president. She left the company in 2016 along with Sehat after the audit committee review. She is one of the best-known women founders in the U.S. semiconductor industry and, with Sehat, a major donor to UC Berkeley. Education: University of California, Berkeley. Dai is described as the only female co-founder of a major semiconductor company. Forbes listed her among the richest women in the world in 2015.
Pantas Sutardja
Pantas Sutardja, Sehat's brother and also a UC Berkeley-trained electrical engineer, co-founded Marvell in 1995 and worked on its core mixed-signal and storage technology, later serving as chief technology officer. He left Marvell in 2016 during the leadership change that followed the audit committee review. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Key Milestones
Marvell founded
Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja found Marvell to build CMOS read-channel chips for hard disk drives.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgGalileo Technology acquired
Marvell buys Israeli networking chipmaker Galileo Technology in a stock deal of about $2.7 billion, building its Ethernet switch business.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIntel XScale business acquired
Marvell buys Intel's communications and application processor (XScale) business for about $600 million, expanding into mobile chips it later exited.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMatt Murphy becomes CEO
After an audit committee investigation and a settlement with Starboard Value, the founders leave and former Maxim executive Matt Murphy becomes CEO.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCavium acquired
Marvell acquires Cavium for about $6 billion, adding OCTEON processors and networking products.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAquantia and Avera Semi acquired
Marvell buys Aquantia for about $452 million and GlobalFoundries' Avera Semi custom ASIC unit for $650 million.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgInphi acquired and move to Delaware
Marvell closes its roughly $10 billion Inphi acquisition, adding optical DSPs, and redomiciles from Bermuda to Delaware as Marvell Technology, Inc.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgInnovium acquired
Marvell acquires Ethernet switch startup Innovium for about $1.1 billion in stock, adding the Teralynx switch family.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAutomotive Ethernet sold to Infineon
Marvell completes the $2.5 billion sale of its automotive Ethernet business to Infineon, recognizing a pre-tax gain of about $1.8 billion.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCelestial AI acquisition closes
On February 2, 2026, Marvell completes its acquisition of photonic interconnect startup Celestial AI, valued at about $3.25 billion upfront in cash and stock.
Source: marvell.comFiscal 2026 revenue of $8.195 billion
Marvell reports fiscal 2026 net revenue of $8.195 billion, up 42%, with Data Center at 74%.
Source: sec.govNvidia invests $2 billion
On March 31, 2026, Nvidia invests $2 billion in Marvell and the companies partner to connect Marvell silicon to Nvidia systems through NVLink Fusion.
Source: sec.govDan Durn named CFO
Former Adobe CFO Dan Durn becomes Marvell CFO on June 15, 2026, succeeding Willem Meintjes.
Source: sec.govRecord Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue
Marvell reports record quarterly revenue of $2.739 billion, up 37% year over year, and raises its fiscal 2027 and 2028 outlook.
Source: sec.govMajor Acquisitions
Celestial AI
2026Add photonic interconnect technology for scale-up AI systems.
Inphi Corporation
2021Add PAM4 and coherent optical DSPs and related electro-optics products.
Innovium
2021Add Teralynx cloud Ethernet switch silicon.
Cavium
2018Add OCTEON processors, Ethernet adapters and QLogic storage products.
Keep researching Marvell
Marvell Company History FAQ
What are the major historical milestones of Marvell Technology from 1995 to today?
Milestones include founding in Silicon Valley (1995), NASDAQ IPO (2000), acquiring Galileo (2001), acquiring Intel XScale (2006), Matt Murphy becoming CEO (2016), acquiring Cavium (2018), acquiring Avera & Aquantia (2019), acquiring Inphi & Innovium (2021), and leading the AI custom silicon era (2023, present).
How did Marvell dominate the computer hard drive storage market in the 2000s?
In the 2000s Marvell was a leading supplier of read-channel and controller chips to hard-drive makers such as Seagate and Western Digital, which funded its expansion into networking.
What was the historic corporate restructuring at Marvell in 2016 to 2017?
Between 2016 and 2017, newly appointed CEO Matt Murphy executed a total corporate restructuring, selling off non-core assets, hiring a top-tier executive team, cutting operating expenses, and setting a strategic course to dominate cloud data infrastructure.
How did Marvell corporate domicile restructure to the United States in 2021?
In April 2021, alongside the Inphi deal, Marvell moved its parent company from Bermuda to Delaware as Marvell Technology, Inc.
What were Marvell's recent investor events?
At its April 2024 AI event Marvell outlined its custom AI silicon and optical roadmap. It has scheduled another Investor Day for October 6, 2026.
How did Marvell innovate with the launch of the 1.6T Nova PAM4 DSP in 2023?
Marvell announced Nova, a 1.6 Tbps PAM4 electro-optics DSP for optical modules, in 2023, aimed at doubling bandwidth in AI clusters.
What is Marvell's long-term vision for global data infrastructure?
Marvell's vision is to be the essential semiconductor foundation of the global data economy, powering the world's most advanced AI supercomputers, cloud hyperscalers, autonomous vehicles, and 5G networks with secure, energy-efficient silicon.
How did Marvell start?
Marvell Technology was founded in 1995 in Santa Clara, California, by Sehat Sutardja, his brother Pantas Sutardja, and his wife Weili Dai. They were highly brilliant engineers from UC Berkeley. They initially focused on building highly complex, mixed-signal "read-channel" chips that dramatically increased the speed and storage capacity of massive magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs), instantly becoming a critical supplier to the early tech industry.
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