Lattice Semiconductor vs Micron: Founders, CEOs and History
Lattice Semiconductor was founded in 1983 by C. Norman Winningstad, Rahul Sud, Ray Capece and is led by Ford Tamer. Micron was founded in 1978 by Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson and is led by Sanjay Mehrotra.
Company facts
Lattice Semiconductor
- Founded
- 1983
- Headquarters
- Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
- Current CEO
- Ford Tamer
- Employees
- 1,800
Micron
- Founded
- 1978
- Headquarters
- Boise, Idaho, United States
- Current CEO
- Sanjay Mehrotra
- Employees
- 53,000
Founders
Lattice Semiconductor
C. Norman Winningstad
C. Norman Winningstad co-founded Lattice Semiconductor in 1983. As a highly experienced tech veteran in Oregon's 'Silicon Forest,' he provided the critical early venture funding and business legitimacy required to launch a highly risky semiconductor startup fo…
Rahul Sud
Rahul Sud co-founded Lattice Semiconductor in 1983. Drawing on his massive technical experience at Intel, he drove the absolutely critical innovation of using CMOS technology to create field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), ensuring Lattice chips consumed sig…
Ray Capece
Ray Capece co-founded Lattice Semiconductor in 1983 alongside Sud and Winningstad.
Micron
Ward Parkinson
Ward Parkinson co-founded Micron Technology in 1978 alongside his brother Joe, Dennis Wilson, and Doug Pitman. After failing to secure consulting contracts, he pushed the company to manufacture its own 64K DRAM chips.
Joe Parkinson
Joe Parkinson served as the first CEO of Micron Technology. He managed the company's highly aggressive, successful anti-dumping lawsuits against massive Japanese semiconductor conglomerates in the 1980s, securing tariffs that saved the US memory industry.
Dennis Wilson
Dennis Wilson was a founding engineer at Micron Technology. He helped design the company's initial 64K DRAM chips, focusing heavily on reducing the physical die size to drastically lower manufacturing costs, which became Micron's primary competitive advantage.…
Doug Pitman
Doug Pitman co-founded Micron Technology and contributed to the initial architectural layout of the company's early memory chips, helping establish the highly efficient design philosophy that kept the company alive during early market crashes.
CEOs and their tenures
Lattice Semiconductor
- Cyrus Y. Tsui1988–2005
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
He bought Vantis from AMD in 1999 and the Agere FPGA business in 2002. He left in 2005.
Source - Darin G. Billerbeck2010–2018
President and Chief Executive Officer
A sale of the company to Canyon Bridge was blocked in 2017. Jim Anderson succeeded him in 2018.
Source - Jim Anderson2018–2024
Former President and Chief Executive Officer
Revenue grew from $398.8 million in 2018 to a record $737.2 million in 2023, and Lattice went from net losses to $259.1 million of net income in 2023. Anderson left in 2024 to become CEO of Coherent.
Source - Ford Tamer2024–present
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tamer is steering Lattice from a pure FPGA vendor toward a combined silicon and firmware supplier for servers. Revenue rose 42% and 62% year over year in Q1 and Q2 2026 under his leadership.
Source
Micron
- Steve Appleton1994–2012
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO from 1994 until his death in a 2012 plane crash, he transformed Micron from a struggling regional manufacturer into a dominant global memory giant, surviving market downturns that destroyed most US competitors.
Source - Mark Durcan2012–2017
Chief Executive Officer
He assumed the CEO role abruptly following the tragic death of Steve Appleton and successfully navigated the company through brutal memory pricing cycles before retiring in 2017.
Source - Sanjay Mehrotra2017–present
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sanjay Mehrotra has led Micron's strategic pivot toward advanced-node leadership, strict capacity discipline, and a focus on high-value data center and mobile markets, driving the company's financial performance through the 2023 memory trough and overseeing th…
Source
Timeline: Lattice Semiconductor and Micron side by side
1978Micron
Company Founded
Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson and Doug Pitman founded Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho, initially as a semiconductor design consultancy before moving into DRAM manufacturing.
1981Micron
64K DRAM Launched
Micron introduced its first 64K DRAM chip, utilizing advanced n-channel MOS technology to achieve acceptable yields and establish the company as a viable competitor in the global memory market, despite the scale advantage of Japanese manufacturers.
1983Lattice Semiconductor
Lattice Founded
C. Norman Winningstad, Rahul Sud, and Ray Capece found Lattice in Oregon to make programmable logic devices.
1984Micron
NASDAQ IPO
Micron completed its initial public offering on the NASDAQ under the ticker MU, establishing the capital base required to accelerate research and development, expand fabrication capacity, and pursue strategic acquisitions to survive the severe memory price war…
1989Lattice Semiconductor
Initial Public Offering
After a 1987 Chapter 11 reorganization, Lattice completes its initial public offering.
1998Micron
Texas Instruments Memory Business Acquired
Micron bought the memory chip business of Texas Instruments in 1998.
1999Micron
Acquisition of Rendition
Micron acquired Rendition, a graphics chip manufacturer, marking its first major step into the integration of memory and logic technologies, though the company later refocused on its core memory competencies to maximize capital efficiency.
2002Lattice Semiconductor
Agere FPGA Business Acquired
Lattice bought the FPGA business of Agere Systems in 2002.
2011Lattice Semiconductor
SiliconBlue Acquisition
Lattice acquires SiliconBlue Technologies for about $62 million, adding the low-power iCE40 FPGA line.
2013Micron
Elpida Memory Acquisition
Micron acquired the assets of bankrupt Japanese DRAM manufacturer Elpida Memory for $2.5 billion, significantly expanding its global market share, acquiring valuable patent portfolios, and solidifying its position as the number two global DRAM manufacturer.
2015Lattice Semiconductor
Silicon Image Acquired
Lattice bought Silicon Image in 2015 for about $600 million.
2017Lattice Semiconductor
Canyon Bridge Deal Blocked
President Trump blocked the sale of Lattice to the China-backed fund Canyon Bridge in September 2017.
2017Micron
Sanjay Mehrotra Appointed CEO
Sanjay Mehrotra, co-founder of SanDisk, was appointed CEO, initiating a strategic shift toward advanced-node leadership, strict capacity discipline, and a focus on high-value data center and mobile markets, driving the company's financial performance and marke…
2018Lattice Semiconductor
Jim Anderson Becomes CEO
Jim Anderson became chief executive of Lattice in September 2018.
2021Lattice Semiconductor
Acquired Mirametrix
Lattice Semiconductor acquired Mirametrix. Lattice acquired Mirametrix, a Montreal computer-vision software company, to add AI software for presence detection and attention sensing.
2022Micron
New York Megafab Announced
Micron said in October 2022 that it would invest up to $100 billion over 20 years in a memory plant in Clay, New York.
2023Micron
CHIPS Act Preliminary Memorandum
Micron secured a preliminary memorandum of terms for $6.2 billion in CHIPS Act funding, supporting the construction of leading-edge memory fabrication facilities in Idaho and New York, a historic investment in US semiconductor manufacturing resilience.
2024Lattice Semiconductor
Ford Tamer Becomes CEO
Ford Tamer becomes CEO in September 2024 after Jim Anderson left to lead Coherent.
2024Micron
HBM3E Volume Production
Micron achieved the industry's first volume production of HBM3E 8-high and 12-high stacks, securing the primary design win for Nvidia's H200 AI accelerator and establishing the company as a critical enabler of the artificial intelligence hardware supply chain.
2025Lattice Semiconductor
FY2025 Revenue of $523.3M
Lattice reports $523.3 million in revenue, $3.1 million in GAAP net income, and 1,800 employees as an industrial inventory correction eases.
2025Micron
Exit From Crucial Consumer Business
In December 2025 Micron said it would stop selling Crucial-branded memory and SSDs through retail channels after fiscal Q2 2026 (February 2026), redirecting supply to AI and data-center customers while keeping warranty support.
2026Lattice Semiconductor
AMI Acquisition Completed
Announced on May 4 and closed on July 27, 2026, the $1.65 billion AMI deal adds server firmware and management software to Lattice's FPGA business.
2026Lattice Semiconductor
Record Q2 Revenue of $201.1M
Q2 2026 revenue rises 62% year over year to $201.1 million on data center and AI demand.
2026Micron
$1 Trillion Market Value And Record Fiscal Year
Micron's market capitalization passed $1 trillion in May 2026. On September 30, 2026 it reported fiscal 2026 revenue of $133.19B and net income of $84.97B, and said it was raising planned US investment to more than $250B through 2035, including the New York me…
Acquisitions
Lattice Semiconductor
- AMI2026$1.6B
- Mirametrix2021Undisclosed
- SiliconBlue Technologies2011$62M
Questions about Lattice Semiconductor vs Micron
Who is the CEO of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc.?
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation is led by Ford Tamer and Micron Technology, Inc. is led by Sanjay Mehrotra. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Lattice Semiconductor Corporation founded vs Micron Technology, Inc.?
Micron Technology, Inc. was founded in 1978 — 5 years before Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, which was founded in 1983. Micron Technology, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Lattice Semiconductor Corporation.
How many employees does Lattice Semiconductor Corporation have compared to Micron Technology, Inc.?
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation employs approximately 1,800 people, while Micron Technology, Inc. employs approximately 53,000. Micron Technology, Inc. has the larger workforce at 53,000 employees, compared to Lattice Semiconductor Corporation's 1,800. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. headquartered?
Both Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. are headquartered in United States. Their local rules and tax obligations may still differ.
Who founded Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc.?
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation was founded by C. Norman Winningstad, Rahul Sud, Ray Capece. Micron Technology, Inc. was founded by Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson, Doug Pitman.
Which company has a longer operating history — Lattice Semiconductor Corporation or Micron Technology, Inc.?
Micron Technology, Inc. has been operating for approximately 48 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation has been in operation for around 43 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Lattice Semiconductor vs Micron overview