Nothing could be further from the truth in the minds of the former Telegent CEO Ford Tamer, former CTO Samuel Sheng, and Reed Hundt, a former FCC chairman who served as a board member for Telegent from the company's inception.

They all stressed that Telegent did not crash and burn.

If anything, “this was a success story,” claimed Tamer. The company, after its sale to Spreadtrum, distributed $100 million among shareholders and employees, he added.

Any investment that doubles its returns is “pretty good these days, especially in the chip world, for employees, investors and private equity fund guys,” said Hundt in an interview with EE Times.

The full story behind Telegent’s exit as told by Tamer and Sheng – although some details remained undisclosed – reveals that the former Telegent team is now spun out in three ways: an engineering team in Shanghai who went to Spreadtrum; 40-plus people based in the United States now working at a “well-known U.S. company” on a new project; and a dozen people, including Tamer and Sheng, now a part of a spin-off, whose name and plans remain undisclosed. Tamer is the executive chairman and Sheng is the president of the spinoff.

Tamer is keeping mum on who that “well-known U.S. company” is. But speculation on the street points to Broadcom. [Broadcom has not returned EE Times’ calls.]

Telegent had “a great team, plenty of cash and a supportive board,” said Tamer. “‘Closing shop’ was never an option we even considered,” he added.