On Semiconductor was spun out of Motorola at the height of the dot com bubble. Their primary business at the time was commodity parts, a capital intensive and cyclical industry.

At their lowest, TPG became a majority shareholder and strongly influenced operations. The initial plan was a quick fix, but TPG saw opportunity and helped OnSemi make the jump up the component food chain.

A major part of this was the low cost structure that TPG drove. This then allowed for cheaper credit options which freed up money for M&A.