The Company	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
The Company [Abstract]
The Company	Note 1 — The Company LSI Corporation ("LSI" or the "Company") designs, develops and markets complex, high-performance storage and networking semiconductors. The Company offers a broad portfolio of capabilities including custom and standard product integrated circuits that are used in hard disk drives, solid state drives, high-speed communications systems, computer servers, storage systems and personal computers. The Company delivers products to its customers as stand-alone integrated circuits as well as incorporated onto circuit boards that offer additional functionality. The Company also licenses other entities to use its intellectual property. On May 6, 2011, the Company completed the sale of substantially all of its external storage systems ("ESG") business to NetApp, Inc. ("NetApp"). The results of the ESG business are presented as discontinued operations in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and, as such, have been excluded from all line items other than "income from discontinued operations" for all periods presented. Since the first quarter of 2011, in connection with the March 9, 2011 agreement to sell the ESG business to Net App, the Company operates in one reportable segment. Before it was sold, the ESG business was part of the Storage Systems segment. The results of the RAID adapter business, which were formerly included in the Storage Systems segment, are now included in the Company's remaining reportable segment.

The Company

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Note 1 — The Company

LSI Corporation ("LSI" or the "Company") designs, develops and markets complex, high-performance storage and networking semiconductors. The Company offers a broad portfolio of capabilities including custom and standard product integrated circuits that are used in hard disk drives, solid state drives, high-speed communications systems, computer servers, storage systems and personal computers. The Company delivers products to its customers as stand-alone integrated circuits as well as incorporated onto circuit boards that offer additional functionality. The Company also licenses other entities to use its intellectual property.

On May 6, 2011, the Company completed the sale of substantially all of its external storage systems ("ESG") business to NetApp, Inc. ("NetApp"). The results of the ESG business are presented as discontinued operations in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and, as such, have been excluded from all line items other than "income from discontinued operations" for all periods presented. Since the first quarter of 2011, in connection with the March 9, 2011 agreement to sell the ESG business to Net App, the Company operates in one reportable segment. Before it was sold, the ESG business was part of the Storage Systems segment. The results of the RAID adapter business, which were formerly included in the Storage Systems segment, are now included in the Company's remaining reportable segment.