Microsemi, Synopsys add jobs in Ireland

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- 12/15/2008

Both Microsemi Corp and Synopsys Inc will be adding jobs in Ireland as the two companies separately plan to expand operations there.

Microsemi, an analog and mixed-signal specialist based in Irvine, Calif, is announcing 315 new jobs over the next 18 months at its operations facility in Ennis, Co Clare, according to a statement today from the office of Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan. The new jobs will be in manufacturing, sales, and technical support.

“Microsemi Ireland is a flagship facility acting as a gateway between the European and US marketplaces for Microsemi," James J Peterson, president and CEO of Microsemi, said in the statement. “The company has already been actively recruiting, this year to date, we have already employed an additional 115 staff with the remaining 200 expected to be put in place within the next 18 months."

Meanwhile, Coughlan's office announced on December 8 that EDA company Synopsys is planning to expand its R&D operations at its Blanchardstown facility in Dublin by adding up to 50 new high-level software and electronic engineering positions over four years.

For more on Ireland's growing role in the worldwide semiconductor industry, see: Irish government enables funding and partnerships between universities and industry

The R&D activity will focus on the 45- and 32-nm nodes and is in collaboration with the Departments of Electronic Engineering and the Centre for Efficiency Oriented Languages at the University College Cork (UCC), according to Coughlan's office.

“I am delighted to announce this technologically advanced investment from a leading software company and I welcome the collaboration with UCC," Coughlan said. "[This] announcement could grow to a total of 74 R&D engineers carrying out strategic research aligned to Synopsys Inc.”

Both announcements came about through support from IDA (Industrial Development Agency) Ireland, the government agency responsible for developing foreign direct investment in the country. In 2007 IDA concluded negotiations for 114 new investments, 40% of which were in the area of R&D.

In early 2008, IDA with Enterprise Ireland, a government agency responsible for the development and promotion of the indigenous business sector, launched a $684 million (500 million Euro) R&D grant scheme to encourage companies to boost their research efforts in the relatively small company.

According to a government report on the Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation (SSTI) 2006-2013, Ireland's investment in the fields made in 2007 and 2008 to date is in excess of $1.9 billion (1.4 billion Euro).

Ireland has also made higher education R&D investment that aims to double the output of PhDs by 2013 over the 2005 base. The most recent data show total outputs rising from 808 in 2005 to 976 in 2006, on track for achieving the overall output goal of 1,300 by 2013, according to Ireland's government.

© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.