Chipmaker Skyworks Solutions Inc. has officially, and quietly, changed its headquarters designation to Irvine from suburban Boston.
The approximately $17.5 billion valued firm (Nasdaq: SWKS), which employs some 450 people at UCI Research Park, becomes the third-largest publicly traded company with headquarters in Orange County, by market value.
It’s also the most valuable publicly traded technology company based here.
The company in a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 8 listed 5260 California Ave. in Irvine as the “address of principal executive offices”; it’s the first time it has done so in regulatory filings. Its prior headquarters in Woburn, Mass. is now listed as its “former address.”
The move follows a big ramp up in local operations of late.
The chipmaker leases some 218,500 square feet of space in Irvine, according to its latest annual report. That’s up from 127,000 square feet as of late 2018.
It has expanded locally by taking over space at UCI Research Park previously occupied by fellow chipmaker Broadcom, which had been based in Irvine until its 2016 sale to Avago Technologies; it kept the Broadcom name.
Skyworks’ base in Woburn, which it owns, runs 158,000 square feet.
Follows CEO Hire
So far, Skyworks hasn’t commented on the change, which had been expected since locally-based Chief Executive Liam Griffin took over the company in 2016 and kept his office in Irvine. Shares in the company are up about 50% since his promotion to the top role; he was previously president.
The company’s website and news releases had already been listing Irvine as its headquarters at least as far back as March.
Along with Griffin and other executives, engineering support, sales, marketing, operations and other teams work in the company’s Irvine base.
Irvine is also home to the company’s design center for custom and standard analog and mixed signal semiconductors.
COVID-19 Hit
The COVID-19 pandemic weighed on the company’s most recent financial results.
Second-quarter revenue was $766.1 million, below the amount of between $800 million and $820 million foreseen in January. Adjusted and diluted earnings per share were $1.34 for the three-month period ended March 27, down from the $1.46 projected earlier.
“The COVID-19 outbreak is impacting individuals, companies, governments and markets across the globe, and our thoughts are with all those who have endured the effects of this global pandemic,” said Griffin said in releasing the earnings results on May 4.
Skyworks, which makes semiconductors for smartphones and other wireless products, got 51% of its net revenue from Apple in fiscal year 2019.
News outlets cited Skyworks as the firm with the greatest exposure to China—resulting in dips in sales of Apple products made in China—among the U.S. major chipmakers, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Edwards, Chipotle
Skyworks trails only $45 billion valued heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) in Irvine and fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) in Newport Beach, which sports a $26 billion market cap, among local public companies.
Chipotle moved its headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach in 2018, following the appointment of Brian Niccol as CEO.
