Computer History Museum

Solomon, Jim (James E.) oral history

Jim Solomon grew up in Idaho, where he excelled as a student, but also found time to explore a hobby in electronics, become an accomplished golfer, and a newspaper photographer. After attending a local junior college, he moved to UC Berkeley to complete a BS and MS in electrical engineering. He worked under Prof. Don Pederson, who became a life-long friend and collaborator. A keen desire to design circuits took him to Motorola Systems Research Lab where he worked on radar and missile control systems. From there he moved on to Motorola Semiconductor in Phoenix. While at Motorola Semi, he built a group that designed op amps, voltage regulators, audio circuits and many other linear semiconductor products. In about 1970, he moved to Silicon Valley to join National Semiconductor, where he again assembled an outstanding analog design group. When the personal computer arrived on the scene in the mid-1970’s he quickly employed it as a powerful tool for modeling analog circuits. Working with his Berkeley contacts, Jim eventually decided to start Solomon Design Automation (SDA), which was funded by a combination of industrial, and venture partners. The company grew rapidly, but after a failed IPO in 1987, they merged with another startup, ECAD, which was already public. The combined entity became Cadence Design Systems, the largest EDA company for many years. Staying with Cadence, Jim handed off his CEO responsibilities to Joe Costello and returned to engineering where he headed a group to design a new analog circuit design system. He left Cadence in 1996 and has been involved in other startups since then including, Smart Machines, and Xulu Entertainment.

Item Details

Date
2013-05-07 (Made)
Type
Document
Catalogue number
102746682
Organization
Computer History Museum (Publisher)
People
James E. Solomon (Interviewee)
Eric Dennis (Videographer)
Doug Fairbairn (Interviewer)
Category
Transcript
Credit line
Gift of Computer History Museum
Extent
30 p.
Place of publication
North America/USA/CA/Mountain View
Language
English
Acquisition number
X6790.2013
Subject
National Semiconductor Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, Semiconductor History, ECAD, Cadence
Archive collection
CHM Oral History Collection
Archive hierarchy
CHM Oral History Collection