SEMI

Sunedison Semiconductor Ltd

A maker of silicon wafers, the polished discs that serve as the building blocks for the semiconductor chips inside computers, phones, and other electronics. The business began in 1959 as the Monsanto Electronic Materials Company (MEMC), a unit of the chemical giant Monsanto. After the parent acquired the solar developer SunEdison LLC in 2009 and rebranded as SunEdison, Inc., the wafer business was spun off in 2014 as SunEdison Semiconductor — which is how a chipmaker inherited its sunny name.