The company was founded in 1991 in Greensboro, North Carolina by William J. Pratt, Powell T. Seymour and Jerry D. Neal, all of whom were former employees of Analog Devices. From the beginning, it was focused on designing RFIC products for the commercial wireless market.

In 1992 RFMD licensed GaAs HBT (gallium arsenide heterojunction bipolar transistor) technology from space and defense contractor TRW Inc. From 1993 until RFMD built its own semiconductor fabrication plant in 1998, it used TRW as a contract manufacturer while TRW acquired a 10% ownership interest in the company.[8] GaAs HBT emerged as a leading technology for high-performance RF applications, such as power amplifiers and small signal devices used in cellular handsets.

RFMD initially supplied ICs for Qualcomm's digital cell phones, and by 1998 had gained Samsung, Nokia, and LG as customers, as production continued to increase. At the end of fiscal year 1997, the company had 133 employees and revenues of $29 million.

IPO and prominence

The IPO of the company on the NASDAQ stock market occurred on June 3, 1997 under the symbol RFMD. At the time of the IPO, the company was a pioneer and leader in the use GaAs HBT process technology for commercial wireless applications, which had benefits in power efficiency, linearity, complexity and size, while also having expertise in older GaAs MESFET and silicon polar transistor process technology.

To strengthen its position in silicon-based products, RFMD entered into an agreement with IBM to use its Blue Logic silicon process technology, and in 1999 gained access to IBM's silicon germanium foundry services.

After construction of the company's own fabrication facilities was completed in 1998, its revenues for fiscal year 1999 ending March 27 more than tripled to $153 million, with net income of $20 million. RFMD's stock price increased to a high of about $95 in March 1999, and the stock split several times.[8] Following a supply agreement with Nokia, at the time the world's largest cell phone maker, sales to Nokia consisted of 59% of the company's revenue in fiscal year 2000.[8] Nokia continued to be RFMD's largest customer for several years until 2011.

On March 3, 2000, the closing price of RFMD's stock reached its highest level of $175 $87.5 adjusted for subsequent stock splits)representing a market capitalization of approximately US$15 billion, based on 86 million shares outstanding.RFMD was a member of the NASDAQ-100 index from 1999 to 2003.After reaching its peak during the tech bubble, the stock price declined substantially and remained below $10 until 2014

Sirenza is product portfolio consists of Communications equipment .