General Semiconductor Design Facility Comes to Park

By Jay Hipps

General Semiconductor will occupy just over 10,000 square feet in this building in the Hacienda Lakes project at 4473 Willow Road.

Power-Regulation Chip Specialists Move from Fremont, Plan to Expand

General Semiconductor, a publicly-held company that recorded close to $500 million in revenues last year, is moving its Fremont design facility to Hacienda with an eye towards expansion.

The company was a division of General Instrument Corporation until 1997, when it became a stand-alone corporation and set out to expand its product offering.

"Our strategic direction is to become a broadline supplier of semiconductor products for power management applications," explains Ron Ostertag, president, CEO, and chairman. "By that, I mean the use of semiconductor devices in the generation, processing of signals, and the control of power in the electronic circuits for both wired and wireless applications."

Specifically, the company will use its new Hacienda design lab to create semiconductor devices known as low power MOSFET semiconductors, which are used to enhance and extend battery life.

"As you know, in today's electronics systems, there's a greater demand for portability in products such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and portable computers, and this portability requires one to be able to extend battery life," he explains. "One of the ways to extend battery life is to offer componentry in electronic circuits that does not consume energy, and that's the whole heart of our power MOSFET product offering."

The company will see approximately 22 employees make the move from their current Fremont facility but expects to accommodate 50 employees in their new Hacienda offices.

"As we become more and more successful with the introduction of these new products, we will be expanding our efforts there," Ostertag notes.

The Hacienda lab will be connected with other General Semiconductor design labs in Korea and Europe, allowing for international collaboration.

"We are a global company," he says. "Based on last year's number of $500 million, our sales were 30% in Europe and 40% in Japan. We've been in the Fremont area now for two years and we're excited about what we'ved done there and look forward to continued growth in Pleasanton."

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April General Semiconductor Comes to Park

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