The real question is clear: What's next for Actel (Mountain View, Calif.)?

Ramius recently took a 6.6 percent stake in Actel. Now, Ramius owns approximately 8.8 percent of Actel's outstanding shares of common stock.

And recently, Ramius wanted the chip maker to re-focus its product efforts or divest its flash-based FPGA lines. So far, Actel has not caved in to those demands, but Ramius appears to be gaining some control at the FPGA house.

Will Actel revamp its product lines--or are more layoffs due? Time will tell. But as part of a new deal with Ramius, Actel will expand its board of directors to nine members and add three new independent directors. The three new members of Actel's board will be Eric J. Zahler, former president and chief operating officer of Loral Space & Communications Inc., Jeffrey C. Smith, a partner of Ramius, and Gavin T. Molinelli, a vice president of Ramius.

Then, Actel also agreed to reduce the size of its board to eight members at its annual meeting. Actel and Ramius will work together to replace Molinelli with a new independent director, unaffiliated with Ramius, who has experience in the semiconductor industry.

Ramius agreed to vote its shares in support of all of Actel's director nominees at the annual meeting. Ramius has also agreed to abide by certain other standstill provisions, which will expire prior to Actel's 2010 annual meeting.

"Today's announcement, coupled with our recently initiated company-wide restructuring plan, demonstrates the commitment of our board and management team to enhancing value for all Actel shareholders," said John East, president and chief executive of Actel, in a statement.

Last month, programmable logic supplier Actel cut an undisclosed number of jobs as part of a restructuring plan expected to save the company $6.5 million per quarter by the third quarter of 2010. It also posted a wider loss.