Menlo Microsystems Inc., the Irvine-based maker of cutting-edge miniature electronic switches, is aiming for more work with the Pentagon, highlighted by a recent visit from a high-ranking Defense Department official.
The firm’s tiny switches are designed for nearly everything from smartphones to defense systems and medical equipment.
Menlo Micro is already developing a high-current advanced circuit breaker for the U.S. Navy.
“We plan on doing a lot more business with the Department of Defense,” company Chief Executive Russ Garcia told the Business Journal on Dec. 19. He calls aerospace and defense one of the company’s three key markets.
Menlo got a boost when Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Heidi Shyu, met with executives at Menlo Micro headquarters on Dec. 3.
The purpose was to “discuss the widespread applications of its technology and the company’s continued work with the Department of Defense,” Menlo Micro said.
Garcia said revenue boomed threefold to more than $10 million in 2024, and he expects sales this year to double again to more than $20 million.
Menlo ranks No. 14 on the Business Journal’s annual list of semiconductor manufacturers with 38 employees based in Orange County; it has 68 employees companywide (see page 12).
National Security Priorities
During her visit, Shyu explored the company’s newest developments in its Ideal Switch technology, which aims to enhance U.S. national security priorities, Garcia said.
That visit included a demonstration on the high-power capabilities of Menlo Micro’s MM5810 switch, which can be used in satellite transceivers and antennas and radar systems.
The Menlo Micro team showcased the company’s multi-domain capabilities, including the Ideal Switch’s role in testing boards for AI applications, beam steering antennas for wireless infrastructure, and high-power blocking switches for radio frequency co-site interference cases, according to Menlo Micro.
The company sees significance in Shyu’s visit.
“Obviously they don’t make those trips for no reason,” Garcia said.
And while Shyu represented the outgoing Joe Biden administration, Garcia sees things moving along under the Trump administration that is taking office this week.
As long as the company is building products that solve big problems “it doesn’t really matter who is president,” Garcia says. “Our technology is very politically agnostic.”
“We have some products that are very differentiated for space communications, guided munitions and power,” says Garcia.
Several days after the Irvine visit, Shyu told the Ronald Reagan National Defense Forum on Dec. 8 that Menlo and similar companies are eagerly awaiting loans from the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital.
Garcia says the Pentagon is also emphasizing “dual-use” developments that also have commercial potential.
He says the company is also working with some of the prime defense contractors, whose names he did not reveal.
Menlo’s Biggest Year Yet
“Unlike traditional electromechanical switches, the Ideal Switch leverages a unique combination of semiconductor technology and cutting-edge design, resulting in higher efficiency, reduced size and a longer lifespan,” the company says. Menlo Micro has become the premier device to test high-speed AI chips, according to CEO Garcia.
The 9-year-old company’s revenue has been growing.
“Overall, this is our biggest year,” Garcia said of 2024.
Think of the Ideal Switch as a new, advanced iteration of the semiconductors used by local tech powerhouses like Broadcom and others to power smartphones, cellphone towers and other products.
Menlo Microsystems says it is bringing more than a 99% reduction in size, weight, power and cost to dozens of industries such as medical and consumer electronics as well as aerospace and defense.
$238M in Financing to Date
The company’s product is expected to make smartphone batteries last longer, medical instruments more precise and make 5G networks run better, among other applications.
Menlo Micro in 2022 received $150 million in a Series C funding round, to expand the company’s domestic manufacturing and supply chain. That round brought cumulative funding to date to about $238 million.
Menlo Micro was spun out of General Electric’s Global Research Center to commercialize the Ideal Switch.
Garcia said the products of companies such as his—integrated circuits and micro electromechanical systems— are built with a semiconductor manufacturing process and therefore are often considered semiconductor companies. And a recent e-mail from Menlo Micro’s spokesperson referred to it as a “semiconductor company.”
The headquarters at 49 Discovery houses operations for executives, design team and sales and marketing.
Menlo Micro Manufacturing
Back in 2023, Irvine-based Menlo Micro decided to build its first manufacturing plant near Ithaca in upstate New York, following intense lobbying from state officials including then-Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“We’re in the process of making that one happen,” Russ Garcia said last month.
As for future manufacturing needs:
“If we’re wildly successful over the next few years, of course we’ll need more manufacturing.”
The company had five jobs posted on its website as of Jan. 14.