Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Jobs boost for UL spin-out firm

A University of Limerick spin-out company that is making semiconductors for use by major communications original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide has the scope to increase its headcount to 150 people, as it moves into lucrative markets such as consumer electronics, siliconrepublic.com has reported.

Limerick-headquartered Powervation, which is backed by an A-list of venture capital firms, including Intel Capital, has derived a new chip that has allowed manufacturers to achieve energy-efficiency gains of up to 30pc, along with a 50pc increase in transient response.

Powervation, which also has offices in California, China and Cork and employs 35 people worldwide – 25 of whom are in Limerick – grew out of the Circuits and Systems Research Centre at the University of Limerick, and benefited from the Enterprise Ireland-backed Power Electronics Industry Group.