Written by Staff | Dallas Business Journal
| (Silicon Valley Microelectronics) |
Wireless technology and 4G LTE network services make smartphones, tablets and other computing devices useful. That technology enables companies and individuals to implement the Internet of Things in which so many functions and products can be controlled remotely.
The Richardson-based Infrastructure and Defense Products division of Qorvo helps make such capabilities possible. The division develops and manufactures the radio frequency filtering products that users need to avoid signal interference and the potential for dropped calls or other disruptions when using network services and mobile devices.
Qorvo was formed in a December 2014 merger between TriQuint Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices. TriQuint’s Richardson plant now houses Qorvo’s Infrastructure and Defense Products operations. The facility employed 750 people under the TriQuint name. A plant expansion underway now is expected to add several hundred more manufacturing and equipment technician jobs.
That expansion gives Qorvo considerably more capacity to develop and manufacture RF products. What drives and sustains such growth is a culture that values innovation, said James Klein, division president.
“We have technology and strengths in both network infrastructure and mobile devices,” Klein said. “Because we’re involved in building network infrastructure, we learn ahead of time what challenges mobile device makers will face trying to connect to network On the defense side, Klein said the company’s work with the military exposes it to technologies “10 years before those technologies hit the commercial market. We get a head start there, too.”
The Richardson facility manufactures gallium nitride, gallium arsenide and bulk acoustic wave RF products. Its success in designing and manufacturing those products earned the company a Quality Supplier of the Year award from Samsung, and Supplier of the Year honors from Telit, Yulong and Huawei. Its energy-saving gallium nitride technology was honored with the CableFAXTech Award of the Year for green technology. Qorvo was also presented with China’s Award for Creativity in Electronics.
The company’s willingness to recognize and direct change extends beyond product concerns, too.
Qorvo adopted the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition code of conduct as a framework for its corporate social responsibility efforts. Coalition members include Apple, Cisco Systems, Intel and other large companies involved in the global electronics supply chain. Qorvo is taking a leadership role in assuring that increases in standards of living accompany increases in international commerce.
DFW has been associated with communications and semiconductor innovation going back decades. Qorvo’s facility is part of that heritage, and the company’s expansion and emphasis on innovation hold promise for the future.
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