A hiring spurt at Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. couldn’t overcome big cuts at Skyworks Solutions Inc.’s local operation, leading to a decline in jobs at the county’s largest chipmakers in the past year.
The 20 largest chipmakers saw a 2% drop in local jobs to 4,434 people, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
Broadcom, a maker of communications chips, added 195 Orange County jobs in the past year, a 16% gain. The company employs 1,449 people locally. Broadcom easily topped the ranking and far and away added the most jobs of anyone on the list.
But Broadcom’s hiring couldn’t outpace hefty cuts at No. 6 Skyworks. The Woburn, Mass.-based wireless chipmaker earlier this month said it plans to cut 425 jobs companywide, with about half coming from its Irvine facility.
Skyworks, which traces its roots to No. 3 Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc., killed a struggling product line with operations in Irvine. The move halves Skyworks’ local employment to 250 people.
The company, which makes radio frequency chips that go into cell phones and analog chips for wireless gear, medical devices and cars, fell three places from No. 3 last year.
Without Skyworks, the 19 other chipmakers saw a 4% rise in employment from a year ago.
The list is made up of chipmakers based here, such as Broadcom and Conexant, as well as others with operations here, including Skyworks and Intel Corp.
Broadcom’s hiring comes amid rising sales,third-quarter revenue was up 30% to $903 million.
The company fared better than most on the list by focusing on the growing wireless and consumer electronics markets.
At No. 2 is Newport Beach-based chip plant operator Jazz Semiconductor Inc., one of only two companies to actually make chips here. The others design chips and contract out for production.
Jazz has an estimated 800 workers, unchanged from a year ago. The company’s sales fell about 9% to $200 million in 2005.
The company is set to be bought for $260 million by Newport Beach’s Acquicor Technology Inc., which was started by former Apple Computer Inc. executives to buy another business.
In all, about half of the chipmakers on the list saw small job gains or flat employment.
No. 5 Irvine-based Microsemi Corp., the only other company to produce chips here, added 30 workers in the past year, its first gain after a restructuring of the past few years. Microsemi employs 295 people locally.
The company, which makes chips for defense and aerospace, medical devices, computers and cell phones, cut about 300 local jobs in the past two years after closing a Santa Ana plant. Microsemi, which still has a Garden Grove plant, moved up a spot to No. 5.
The list includes several startup chipmakers.
No. 13 Irvine-based Solarflare Commun-ications Inc., a designer of networking chips, added 12 people for a total of 50 local workers.
Earlier this year, Solarflare bought another networking chip startup, Level 5 Networks Inc., with operations in Silicon Valley and Britain. The combined company recently raised $50 million in venture financing.
Solarflare more than doubled its companywide employment to 84 people with the deal.
The company is maintaining a “cautious staffing plan,” spokesman Bruce Tolley said.
“We have some intense competition,” he said. “We need to grow fast enough to execute our production plans, but not grow so fast that we starve cash before the revenue comes in.”
Rivals include other startups Aquantia Corp. of Milpitas, Teranetics Inc. of Santa Clara and KeyEye Communications Inc. of Sacramento.
Irvine-based WiSpry Inc., a startup designer of chips for wireless phones, debuted on this year’s list at No. 20.
WiSpry, which employs 24 people locally, raised $13.5 million in a second round of venture capital this month and plans to hire more people in sales and marketing, Chief Executive Jeff Hilbert said.
Santa Ana-based Valence Technology Ltd., No. 15 last year, fell off the list this time around after being sold by Santa Ana’s SRS Labs Inc. to Hong Kong’s Willas-Array Electronics Holdings Ltd.
