ANALYSIS:While not as high profile as other US tech firms, Xilinx has invested here since the mid-1990s, writes JOHN COLLINS.
ALTHOUGH NOT the most high- profile US technology firm operating in the Republic, Xilinx is seen as a good corporate citizen that was committed to investing in the country.
In Ireland since 1995, it was one of the early tenants of the Citywest business park on the outskirts of the city and has invested over €125 million since then. The company produces a class of semiconductors known as programmable logic. These chips are used by electronic manufacturers so that their products can process information according to pre-defined rules. It also sells software that allows its customers to programme the chips for their own needs.
Founded in California in 1984 Xilinx (pronounced “zy-links”) was one of the first semiconductor companies to champion the model of “fabless semiconductor company”. Rather than having its own factories, or wafer fabrication plants, which can cost billions of euro to build, it outsources manufacturing to third parties in Asia. Everything but the design, marketing and support of its products is outsourced.
Although the jobs being eliminated are in manufacturing and testing, the complexity of Xilinx’s products mean they could not be classed as low-value jobs. They are however labour intensive and Xilinx clearly believes that regardless of the productivity of its Irish workers, these tasks can be done at lower cost in Singapore or by third parties.
Xilinx had put down deep roots in Ireland and “moved up the value chain” by adding functions such as research and development. Despite this, the Irish operations felt the full brunt of the corporate restructuring announced yesterday.
Xilinx supports University College Dublin’s campus incubation centre NovaUCD and is heavily involved with research being carried out at the Centre for Telecommunications Value-chain Research (CTVR) which is headquartered at Trinity College, Dublin. The company also appointed external directors to the board of its Irish subsidiary including Pat Shanahan, chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority and An Post chief executive Donal Connell.
The news came just hours after Intel, the world’s biggest maker of semiconductors, announced first-quarter results that were better than expectations, with chief executive Paul Otellini suggesting the worst is over for the tech sector. But the chipmaker said there was still too much market and economic turbulence for it to give a precise second quarter projection. Clearly, that turbulence is being felt strongly at Xilinx HQ.
