Convertible Debentures and Revolving Credit Facility (Details Textuals) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	6 Months Ended						6 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2011	Oct. 02, 2010	Oct. 01, 2011 2.625% Senior Convertible Debentures [Member]	Apr. 02, 2011 2.625% Senior Convertible Debentures [Member]	Oct. 31, 2010 2.625% Senior Convertible Debentures [Member]	Jun. 30, 2010 2.625% Senior Convertible Debentures [Member]	Oct. 01, 2011 3.125% Debentures [Member]	Apr. 02, 2011 3.125% Debentures [Member]	Apr. 30, 2007 3.125% Debentures [Member]	Mar. 31, 2007 3.125% Debentures [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Principal amount of Debentures			$ 600,000,000	$ 600,000,000		$ 600,000,000	$ 689,635,000	$ 689,635,000		$ 1,000,000,000
Interest rate of debentures	3.125%		2.625%				3.125%			3.125%
Fair value of debentures			675,000,000				694,800,000
Conversion rate of convertible debentures per $1 thousand principal amount			33.0164				33.1695
Base conversion block amount of senior convertible debenture			1,000
Base conversion block amount of junior convertible debenture							1,000
Effective conversion price of debentures			$ 30.29				$ 30.15
Proceeds from selling of interest rate swaps					30,200,000
LIBOR interest rate reduction			0.2077%
Fair value of hedge items					29,900,000
Maximum number of shares to be purchased by Xilinx under call option			19.8
Price per share of common stock to be purchased by Xilinx under call option			$ 30.29
Aggregate amount to purchase call options	0	112,319,000
Maximum number of shares to be purchased by the counterparties			19.8
Price per share of common stock to be purchased by counter parties under warrants			$ 42.91
Proceeds from sale of warrants	0	46,908,000
Net amount paid to hedge counterparties related to call options		65,400,000
Tax benefit related to call option		41,700,000
Carrying value of derivative							1,475,000	1,504,000
Line of credit facility period									5 years
Maximum borrowing capacity of revolving credit facility									250,000,000
Convertible Debentures and Revolving Credit Facility (Textuals) [Abstract]
Borrowings under credit facility during the period	$ 0