SiliconBeat

Three founders of Santa Clara semiconductor company Marvell have made researchers and administrators at U.C. Berkeley very happy.

Sehat Sutardja, Weili Dai and Pantas Sutardja have donated a total of more than $20 million of their own money to help complete the new headquarters for the university’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society.

Combining the skills of more than 300 researchers, the institute is designed to help industry develop innovative technology to solve social problems.

The three founders contributed equal sums. But at the university’s request,  Marvell officials declined to disclose the precise amount of the gift.

Sehat Sutardja is Marvell’s chairman and CEO, Dai is vice president of sales for communications and consumer business, and Pantas Sutardja is chief technology officer.

Marvell Technology Group, the chip maker headquartered in the Bahamas with operations out of Santa Clara, became the latest chip maker to ratchet down expectations. The company now expects sales for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter ending Jan. 31 to be in a range of $500-$520 million, down about 28 percent from its previous projection of $690-$720 million.

“The current macro economic environment is having a significant negative impact on our business,” said Marvell Chief Executive Sehat Sutardja in a statement. “There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the duration and depth of the current worldwide economic slow-down. This is especially true within the PC and the consumer electronics markets.

“While visibility into future demand in these markets remains uncertain, it is clear an inventory correction process is underway in the near term. Consequently, we will continue to take actions to re-align our expense profile to the current environment.”