Decision to move manufacturing previously located in Asia aided by forgivable state loan. News from Business Oregon.
Governor John Kitzhaber recently announced that a Hillsboro semiconductor firm, Jireh Semiconductor, Inc., has decided to “on-shore” their proprietary technology keeping 250 manufacturing jobs here in lieu of contracting production in Asia.
Jireh Semiconductor is a newly established and wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, Inc. (AOS) which acquired the Hillsboro fabrication facility from Integrated Device Technology (IDT) earlier this year. The purchase of the facility from IDT reflects a strategic decision by AOS to expand and optimize products and innovative technology while bringing manufacturing back to the United States, company officials said. AOS acquired the 8-inch wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro with plans to re-train the employees on Jireh’s production processes. The acquisition helped the company accelerate the development of their innovative power device technologies.
“This is one more piece of good news for Oregon’s thriving Silicon Forest of high tech manufacturers,” said Governor Kitzhaber. “Jireh Semiconductor is just the latest firm to return jobs here to Oregon from Asia and we welcome that vote of confidence in Oregon and its highly trained workers.”
Earlier this year, Governor Kitzhaber approved a $250,000 forgivable loan from the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund to help the company with its workforce re-training costs associated with the move. In addition, in January, the Governor joined President Obama to call on companies across the nation to invest in America at a forum at the White House. The forum focused on the increasing trend of on-shoring—where companies are bringing jobs back to the United States and making additional investments here in America.
AOS’s growth is reflected by the company’s increasing market share within the power semiconductor industry. The company’s products are widely used in applications such as high performance servers, laptops, desktop computers and graphic cards, LCD TVs, smart phones, communications, networking and industrial equipment.
“To begin manufacturing in the U.S. was a strategic decision; AOS believes that America and the American people are fundamentally innovative in technology, products and productivity,” said Mike Chang, PhD and CEO of AOS. “AOS’s core competiveness is in its ability to innovate and innovate quickly. However, it is also the company’s painful experience that technology cannot innovate faster or at a higher level without in-house manufacturing.”
