Skyworks Solutions Inc., which is run from Irvine, enters 2018 as Orange County’s second-most valued public company, with a recent $18.5 billion market cap. The chipmaker trails only Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. for the county title. The medical device company, which makes products to treat structural heart diseases, and specializes in artificial heart valves, had a recent market cap of $24.4 billion.
Skyworks’ share price has increased nearly 35% in the past year, trading at $100.77 as of press time.
The company specializes in communication chips used in smartphones, tablets, routers, PCs and notebook computers. Its ongoing diversification effort into the growing Internet of Things and automotive segments, among others, have earned plaudits on Wall Street. The Business Journal reported last month that Skyworks is supplying Chinese manufacturing giant ZTE Corp. with integrated chips embedded in after-market products that essentially turn unconnected vehicles into roaming hot spots.
Components and devices in the global connected-car market are projected to generate sales of more than $46.1 billion this year, way up from about $15.3 billion in 2012, according to auto market researcher SBD and the GSMA trade group.
The company posted sales of $3.7 billion in the 12 months through September, up 11% year-over-year. Net income of the Apple Inc. supplier topped $1 billion for the first time, compared to a profit of $995 million a year earlier—an enviable 28% profit margin.
Skyworks is OC’s third-largest chipmaker, with 376 local employees. Its Irvine operation has grown steadily in recent years, adding engineers and corporate personnel and department heads in finance, sales, marketing and legal.
Woburn, Mass., serves as Skyworks’ official headquarters, though corporate influence has swung to OC in recent years following Liam Griffin’s ascension to the top post. Griffin runs the company from its 127,000-square-foot office and design center at University Research Park.
Amped Sales
Irvine-based CalAmp Corp. has been selected by Trimble Inc. to supply a line of vehicle and asset monitoring products for the publicly traded Silicon Valley company.
Under the agreement, CalAmp will provide customized telematics tracking devices and systems management technology for Trimble’s Field Service Management products. The technology is billed as improving field service response time by tracking vehicle and equipment locations to efficiently deploy service technicians.
Financial details of the deal weren’t announced.
Trimble makes navigation and modeling software; tracking and measurement systems; and fleet and transportation management, analytics, routing, mapping, reporting, and predictive modeling, among other offerings.
CalAmp, as of press time, was the 31st-largest public company in OC, with a market cap of $820 million.
The company posted revenue of $351 million in the 12 months through February, the end of its fiscal year, up 25% year-over-year. It posted a loss of $7.9 million in its last fiscal year, compared to $16.9 million in net income in the prior one.
CalAmp employs about 45 in OC and 900 companywide.
Cloudy Day
Cloud computing services provider Zumasys Inc. has acquired the assets of Irvine neighbor TCS Network Consulting.
Under the deal, former TCS President Keith Hermance takes the role of senior solutions consultant and Zumasys gains an additional five employees. The company now employs 85, about 50 of them at its Spectrum headquarters.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Zumasys’ new managed services division helps customers eliminate administrative overhead and related costs of managing cloud and IT systems. They receive 24/7 monitoring and proactive responses to issues for a fixed monthly fee, according to the company.
“Keith’s customer list reads like a who’s who of Orange County developers, construction companies and manufacturers,” Zumasys founder and Chief Executive Paul Giobbi told the Business Journal.
Sales in the cloud-managed services segment are projected to grow from $27 billion last year to more than $53 billion by 2022, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets.
Zumasys, established in 2000, posted revenue last year of about $30 million.
