Rahul Sud. (founder of Lattice Semiconductor Corp.) (company profile)

Rahul Sud

On New Year's Eve in a fancy but boisterous downtown restaurant, Rahul Sud ate a leisurely meal, drank champagne and reminisced--not about the past year, but about a dream that began in 1983.

Whether Sud's dream already ended as a nightmare or was just interrupted still isn't clear.

For more than three years, Sud was more than just the president and chief executive officer of Lattice Semiconductor Corp., the Beaverton chipmaker. Impatient with those who didn't share his drive and vision, Sud was Lattice, and the chip startup was his life.

The company once epitomized the high hopes of the local technology industry but now stands crippled with no president, virtually no cash and a mountain of payables. And Sud has found himself on the outside, with visions of raising $200 million for another high-tech startup.

"I still love Lattice," declare Sud, but the rest has changed. Early last month, Lattice directors forced Sud to resign as president and chief executive. A week later, they kicked him and three of his associates off the board.

The move was not really unexpected. Though Lattice was built on Sud's grandiose vision of a world-class semiconductor company, his last days at Lattice were plagued by ineffectiveness …