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1. Introduction of companies Company Name: National Semiconductor Corporation Background Information: National Semiconductor Corporation was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 1959, the same year the integrated circuit (IC) was created and moved the company’s headquarters to Santa Clara, California since 1967. The company common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol ‘‘NSM.’’ Nature of Business: The company designs, develops, manufactures, and markets analogue and mixed-signal integrated circuits and sub-systems. The company product portfolio includes power management circuits, audio and operational amplifiers, analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog converters, communication interface circuits, lighting and display circuits, adaptive voltage scaling circuits, and radio frequency integrated circuits, as well as power references, regulators, and switches. It offers Power Wise family of products that enable systems to extend battery life and generate less heat; and Solar Magic technology to increase the effectiveness of solar panels under variable light conditions. The company products provide solutions for LED lighting, precision data acquisition, high-speed serial communication, and power conversion in personal mobile devices, communications infrastructure, renewable energy, portable medical, and security and surveillance markets. Its products are also used in wireless base stations, network infrastructure, industrial and sensing, automotive, factory and office automation, photovoltaic systems, and wireless handsets and other portable applications. Financial Aspect: For fiscal 2010, our net sales were $1.4 billion, our operating income was $325.8 million and our net income was $209.2 million. A large portion of our sales come from analog products that are classified within the general purpose analog categories (as defined by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics or WSTS).General purpose analog products are defined by WSTS as amplifiers,signal conversion, power management and interface products, representing the fundamental circuitsthat electronic systems need in order to deal with continuously varying signals of the real world, suchas light, sound, pressure, temperature and speed. Within the general purpose analog market, our strengths have historically been in the power management, amplifier and interface areas where higher performance coupled with ease of use typically result in higher gross margins. In addition to general purpose analog products, we also develop application-specific analog sub-systems that typically carry higher values and are often targeted at high-growth markets. Approximately 94 percent of our revenue in fiscal 2010 was generated from Analog segment products. Our product line operations are organized under one group called the Product Group, which is responsible for designing and developing a wide range of analog integrated circuits, many of which convert and regulate voltages to ensure that electronic systems operate to their fullest potential with the lowest overall power consumption or the highest energy efficiency. It also designs and develops integrated circuits that handle the requisite analog technology for information or data as it travels from the point where it enters the electronic system, is conditioned, converted and processed to the point where it is sent out. In addition to providing real world interfaces, these products are used extensively in signal conditioning, signal conversion (from analog to digital andvice versa) and high-speed interfacing applications.