Texas Instruments
TI Home > Corporate Citizenship > Product Stewardship > Innovation > 2011 performance

2011 Corporate Citizenship Report

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterE-mail

2011 performance

Results | Looking ahead

Application-driven roadmaps will continue to define future innovations at TI, as electronics move into greater mobility, connectivity and the immersive environment. Innovation in energy management and doing more with less is critical for the success of our customers. Our innovations will help transform the next generation of products to deliver the right balance of performance and energy use required to meet future needs.

Major achievements during the year include:
  • Announcements of the first two commercial products derived from technology developed in Kilby Labs: one supports very low current systems, where energy harvesting and tiny batteries are used. The other was for low-power analog-to-digital converters for the wireless basestation market.
  • Moving power line communication (PLC) technology into the microcontroller unit (MCU) product line, which has been taken to market worldwide. This software-based technology allows TI to support multiple standards and adapt to the different environments where PLC is being deployed to make the power grid “smarter” and help with energy conservation.
  • Inviting 14 graduate students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Columbia University, Georgia Tech, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Cambridge University in England to intern at Kilby Labs. 
Additionally, TI signed a 10-year memorandum of understanding with the China Ministry of Education (MOE) in support of China’s university education and the cultivation of electronics engineering talent. Under the agreement, we will participate in the MOE's Undergraduate Education Reform Project, which supports comprehensive reform of Chinese university curriculum and teaching materials, and the development of undergraduate education in China.

TI had nearly 20,000 students participate in our global Analog Design Competitions. We also opened up the contest to all accredited engineering institutions in the U.S. and Canada, beyond those with which we had an existing relationship. This increased the number of schools and students that participated.

Finally, TI launched an external TI innovation website to better represent and communicate the scope of our activities to customers, investors and prospective employees.

Results

  • Increased our R&D investments by about $145 million (up from $1.57 billion in 2010). This primarily supported new product innovation within our own business units and the expansion of Kilby Labs to further enable innovation.
  • Gave $12 million through the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) to fund university research. We also:
    • Allowed 54 TI experts to serve on SRC technical advisory boards to help select and review research, and provide counsel in specific research areas.
    • Provided more than 120 TI experts to serve as industrial liaisons to specific university research projects. They provide technical guidance and help extract value for our company.
    • Continued participating in the SRC’s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative, which focuses on future electronic device development.
  • Directly sponsored $10 million worth of basic and applied research conducted by universities. TI’s business units and R&D groups funded projects specific to our technology and design needs.
  • Donated $4.2 million to the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) to support its efforts to achieve tier-one research university status. This included $1.2 million in research funding for areas of interest to TI, and $3 million to endow faculty positions in the new Department of Bioengineering. Our donations were matched by a private donor ($5 million), as well as by the University of Texas System and the State of Texas.
  • Supported TxACE by giving $600,000 directly (in addition to what we give through the SRC). That allowed UT Dallas researchers to start five additional projects intended to produce higher-efficiency lighting, advanced imaging technology and new generations of sensor technology. Each project included at least one collaborator from TI, and each effort focused on making use of analog technology.
  • Gave more than $350,000 to support university research on biomedical electronics, with most of that funding directed toward increasing collaboration between engineering universities, medical centers and industry to use technology to enhance medical care.
  • Contributed another $150,000 of about $750,000 pooled to co-fund a biomedical electronics program along with the UT Dallas, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Texas Health Resources, which manages a group of health centers in the Dallas area.

Looking ahead

In 2012, TI plans to:
  • Complete the integration of National Semiconductor’s former Analog Technology Development and Packaging Technology R&D groups into TI.
  • Open new R&D centers in Shanghai, China, and Silicon Valley Labs in Santa Clara, Calif.
  • Give another $12 million to the SRC to fund university research.
  • Directly fund at least $10 million in university research that is pertinent to TI.
  • Spend at least 12 percent of TI’s revenue on R&D programs.
  • Fund at least seven additional biomedical electronics projects.
  • Expand TI’s analog footprint into undergraduate and graduate engineering curricula.
Back to top