Dallas Semiconductor

Established in 1984, Dallas Semiconductor emerged as a prominent designer and manufacturer of semiconductors and chip-based subsystems. The company quickly gained recognition for its innovative approach and technical expertise in developing a diverse range of high-performance products. This included notable offerings such as 1-Wire®, iButton®, microcontrollers (MCUs), timekeeping devices, thermal management solutions, and communication devices.

By 1993, Dallas Semiconductor had successfully introduced over 170 base products across 14 different categories, demonstrating their commitment to comprehensive product development. Their portfolio encompassed telecommunications and timekeeping systems, nonvolatile RAM, automatic identification systems, and microcontrollers. While each individual product held its own merits, collectively they contributed to substantial growth and above-average earnings for the company.

With net sales reaching $156.8 million and serving over 8,000 customers, Dallas Semiconductor held a significant position in the market. Remarkably, they were the sole supplier of their products for 75 percent of their customer base, cementing their reputation as a reliable and preferred provider.

Dallas Semiconductor's dedication to innovation, technical leadership, and diverse product offerings propelled them to success in the semiconductor industry. Their ability to meet the evolving needs of customers while delivering impressive financial performance established them as a trusted and respected player in the market.

Dallas Semiconductor designed and manufactured analog, digital, and mixed-signal semiconductors (integrated circuits, or ICs). Its specialties included communications products (including T/E and Ethernet products), microcontrollers, battery management, thermal sensing and thermal management, non-volatile random-access memory, microprocessor supervisors, delay lines, silicon oscillators, digital potentiometers, real-time clocks, temperature-compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs), iButton, and 1-Wire products. The Dallas, Texas-based company was founded in 1984 and purchased by Maxim Integrated Products in 2001. Both the Maxim and Dallas Semiconductor brands were actively used until 2007. Since then, the Maxim name has been used for all new products, though the Dallas Semiconductor brand has been retained for some older products, which can be identified by “DS” at the beginning of their part numbers.