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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

AOS Acquires Jireh Semiconductor In Hillsboro, Oregon, Bringing 250 Jobs Back To The US

09/07/2012
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, Inc., which recently acquired Jireh Semiconductor's Hillsboro, Oregon facility, said it decided to "on-shore" its proprietary technology, bringing 250 manufacturing jobs back to the US.

"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, Chief Executive Officer of AOS. "AOS's core competiveness is in its ability to innovate and innovate quickly. However, it also is the company's painful experience that technology cannot innovate faster or at a higher level without in-house manufacturing."

AOS said it 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.

Earlier this year Jireh Semiconductor, a newly established and wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpha and Omega Semiconductor, acquired the Hillsboro fabrication facility from Integrated Device Technology. 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.

"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."

As an incentive, 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.

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, the Governor's Office said.

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