A potentially big result of Laguna Niguel-based chip startup Symwave Inc.’s sale to Hauppauge, N.Y.-based Standard Microsystems Corp. could come from talent cut loose by the deal.
Chief Executive Yossi Cohen and other former Broadcom Corp. executives won’t stick around after Standard Micro takes over.
“They have appointed several managers who will take over different portions of the team,” Cohen said.
It’s unclear what Cohen and the others will do next. It’s also unknown whether they have noncompete agreements.
“I have a number of different options that I’m currently evaluating,” Cohen said. “I’m definitely staying in the area and in the industry. I believe the next chapter will be pretty exciting for me.”
Symwave’s local office is set to shrink a bit but will stay here, he said.
Standard Microsystems took a stake in Symwave last year with an initial $5 million investment and another $3 million this year. The investment came with an option for Standard Microsystems to acquire Symwave.
Cohen said he appreciates the backing of Standard Microsystems—even if he has some regrets on the timing of the deal.
“Standard Microsystems has been a strong supporter of Symwave during some of the most challenging financial times in the history of our industry, and their backing enabled us to complete the product development and ramp our customers to production successfully,” Cohen said.
The buyout wasn’t a big exit for Symwave but it came at the right time, he said.
“I think the financial outcome … fell short of our expectations from when we started a little over two years ago,” Cohen said. “But we were happy that this outcome took place now, considering all the challenges we had. If we ended up not being sold, it would have been pretty difficult.”
Symwave started in 2001 as a sort of a spinoff of a spinoff. Its founders, a handful of engineers and executives, hailed from Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc., which spun off from Rockwell International Corp. in 1999.
The company floundered for a while with a technology that was being phased out in favor of universal serial bus ports.
Cohen moved the company from San Diego to Orange County and opened a development center in China. He also recruited a handful of other engineering and sales executives from Broadcom to help run the startup.
The moves laid the groundwork for Symwave to shift gears and begin making chips for the next generation of USB ports, the most popular way of connecting consumer electronics to a PC.
The latest version of the ports, USB 3.0, transfers data about 10 times faster than previous versions.
Its biggest customer is Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp., which has a sizeable lineup of external storage drives that it markets to consumers as a way to store photos, music and other files.
Broadcom in Silicon Valley
Irvine-based communications chipmaker Broadcom added more space in Silicon Valley this month, according to a report in the San Jose Business Journal.
Broadcom signed leases in Sunnyvale and San Jose, bringing its total space in Silicon Valley to 786,000 square feet.
In San Jose, the company took up more space in a building it already occupied when a floor was vacated by Scotts Valley-based Seagate Technology LLC, according to the report.
Broadcom told the San Jose Business Journal the expansion is to “support the firm’s wireless and mobile business units,” but didn’t give specifics.
Broadcom is the biggest local chipmaker by number of employees here. It resumed hiring in the past year after a pause during the downturn, adding some 245 jobs for a total of 2,250 in OC.
Consumer Electronics Gifts
Consumer electronics once again will be the hottest gifts this holiday season, according to an annual survey by the Arlington, Va.-based trade group Consumer Electronics Association.
Consumers are forecast to spend $750 on holiday gifts, down 2% from last year, the data showed.
They’re projected to spend $232 on consumer electronics, up 5% from last year and the highest level since the association began tracking holiday spending.
Notebook computers and Apple Inc.’s iPad ranked second and third on the list of most wanted gifts by adults, after the generic and unimaginative “peace and happiness.”
(Sorry, my inner Grinch is showing.)
E-readers ranked No. 5. Video game players came in at No. 9.
Overall, consumers will each spend an average of $1,412 this holiday on everything from gifts and decorations to travel and food, up 3% from last year but below past years, the survey showed.
Roughly 70% of consumers surveyed said they are adjusting holiday spending due to economic concerns.
“While the recession officially ended a year and half ago, consumers remain very cautious this holiday,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and director of research at the consumer electronics association. “Worries remain over the economy and employment picture, but there is optimism.”
