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Driven in part by growth in automotive applications, Winston-Salem’s Triad Semiconductor has opened a design center in Pocatello, Idaho.
The design center employs about nine people. That’s on top of 65 company-wide.
The company produces analog application-specific integrated circuit chips. In addition to automotive, its products are used in virtual and augmented reality, audio, medical, photonics and optical communication and aerospace and defense.
“We connect the real world to the virtual world, the computer world, so analog to digital design — basically at a fundamental level connecting real-world information to the computer world.” CEO Lynn Hayden said.
““We’re working on a chip right now for navigation for autonomous driving. We’re working on a chip that will control lumbar support in the seating for comfort and massage.”
The company has grown consistently, with Hayden putting sales in the $20 million range. But it’s up against a reality in its industry: Though the underlying technology is widely used, engineers experienced in it are becoming harder to find, as university programs increasingly focus on software and digital-chip design, and many of those with experience in it are at or nearing retirement age.
But a company closed a fabrication facility in Idaho, making a team of engineers available. They had the expertise and experience with the kind of chips Triad makes, Chief Technology Officer Jim Kemerling said.
“Finding engineers is a big challenge in this industry, especially analog IC design engineers, are are a very difficult thing to find and to find that many in one location — Lynn said let's just make it a design center, so that's what we did.”
The brain drain is industry-wide, Hayden and Kemerling said. “The problem with analog has been that it’s just not the hot technology for new students entering school,” Hayden said.
“A really solid analog IC designer has typically at least 10 years experience. So there's a lot of on-the-job training, so to speak, before you really, really get to the top levels of capability.”
The company’s base remains its headquarters at 1760 Jonestown Road in Winston-Salem, where it was founded more than 20 years ago. Kemerling was an electrical engineer who’d worked with several major companies. He and a colleague had ideas about sensor interface technology and pitched them to their telecom-related company but it wasn’t interested, so they struck out on their own.
They used a business incubator affiliated with Wake Forest University. Hayden invested in and later joined the company.
Manufacturing is done at contract facilities primarily in Asia, with a fabrication facility in California. Hayden can’t rule out another satellite location. Many companies in the industry locate where talent and resources are, he noted.
The company sees growth potential in emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence. To differentiate from competitors, it stresses its ability to produce custom, application-specific work. A strong reputation in the industry is paying off, too, Hayden said,
“We're finally starting to get significant brand recognition throughout the U.S. and have been around long enough that we're being trusted by some of the leaders in various markets," Hayden said. "It's been a long haul, but we're finally starting to really see some benefit from all of the hard work our engineers have put in over the last 20 years.”