This year’s roundup of Orange County’s largest chipmakers is defined by the deals that got done and the one that got away.
The 16 biggest companies in the key business sector here added 89 positions in the year through April 30, ending the period with 4,083 workers, up 2.2%. The slight uptick follows two consecutive years of job losses, though last year’s employment decreased by only 15 positions, essentially flat.
The year before was drastic, when more than 750 jobs were cut, a nearly 16% drop fueled by big cuts at Broadcom’s Irvine campus and a string of divestitures following its $37 billion sale to Avago Technologies Inc. in early 2016.
Six companies on this week’s list added workers, and three slimmed down—the same breakdown as a year ago. Seven companies were either Business Journal estimates or didn’t provide enough information for a year-over-year comparison.
The top nine employers maintained their rankings.
Ranking Breakdown
Perennial No. 1, Broadcom, which last month changed its name to Broadcom Inc. and officially moved its corporate headquarters designation from Singapore to Delaware, has an estimated 1,630 workers.
The company stopped providing employment figures to the Business Journal after its sale.
Its operational headquarters will remain in San Jose, where Chief Executive Hock Tan crafted a hostile takeover of San Diego-based rival Qualcomm Inc.
An unsolicited bid, championed by Broadcom founder and Chief Technical Officer Henry Samueli, increased to $117 billion before President Donald Trump killed the deal in a presidential order on March 12, citing national security concerns related to 5G development.
The Trump administration worried that if Broadcom acquired Qualcomm, it would invoke deep research and development cuts in 5G. If that happened, it contended, the U.S. would lose the lead to China in the race for 5G supremacy, and in doing so compromise national security.
• No. 3, Woburn, Mass.-based Skyworks Solutions Inc. added 53 employees, up nearly 15% to 407. It posted sales of $3.7 billion in the 12 months through September, up 11% from the prior year. Net income for 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’ financial performance and employee growth has been driven by the strong global demand for our wireless connectivity engines across mobile and the Internet of Things,” Thomas Schiller, vice president of strategy and corporate development, told the Business Journal. “We are making investments to meet our customers’ needs and to capitalize on the transformative 5G opportunities that lie ahead.”
Its growing Irvine operation, home to Chief Executive and recent Business Journal OC 50 addition Liam Griffin, houses several senior executives, a design center, application engineering support, sales, and marketing, operations, quality and supply chain personnel.
Griffin and Skyworks kept up the pace the first half of fiscal 2018, growing sales 9% to $1.96 billion, from the same period a year ago.
• No. 4, Aliso Viejo-based Microsemi Corp., added five employees for 236 locally, up 2.1%.
In March the company agreed to a $10.1 billion sale to Microchip Technology Inc. in Chandler, Ariz., punctuating Jim Peterson’s 31st deal since taking the top management post in 2000.
The sale price of $68.78 per share represents a 7% premium on Microsemi’s share price at the close of trading on March 1, the day the deal was announced.
Microchip executives believe China’s Ministry of Commerce will approve the deal soon, Susquehanna International Group LLP analyst Christopher Rolland wrote in an investor note last week. Sources with direct knowledge of the deal say it will close early next month.
A sizable portion of Microsemi’s local employment is corporate personnel, jobs that are typically tenuous following a sale, with Microchip taking on more than $8 billion in debt to buy Microsemi.
Microchip tied for No. 13 after adding five workers, ending with 60 locally, up 9%.
• No. 7, San Jose-based Synaptics Inc., has an estimated 120 workers at its Irvine operation, though that number is likely lower.
The company acquired Irvine-based chipmaker Conexant Systems LLC last year for $342 million and likely invoked some cost-cutting measures typical after an acquisition.
Conexant, which spun off in 1999 from Rockwell International, emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2013 when hedge fund billionaire George Soros’ QP SFM Capital Holdings Ltd. took ownership.
The merger of its wireless communications business in 2002 with Alpha Industries Inc. in Woburn, Mass., created Skyworks.
• Irvine-based Solarflare Communications Inc. moved up three spots to No. 11 after adding 21 positions for 74, up 39.6%, the highest percentage of any company on the list.
Its chips go into circuit boards that it sells directly to financial services firms. The products enable rapid transfer of large amounts of data.
