Specialty foundry TSI Semiconductors LLC (Roseville, Calif.) has appointed semiconductor industry veteran Sagar Pushpala as CEO. The company, formerly Telefunken Semiconductor International LLC, has also acquired the San Jose operation of SVTC Technologies Inc. and Pushpala said he intends to expand TSI as a specialty foundry and process development partner.

Pushpala, who most was a partner at Khosla Ventures, has more than 25 years experience in executive positions with such companies as National Semiconductor, Maxim and Intersil.

Between $10 million and $13 million was paid for SVTC in San Jose, Pushpala said. SVTC Technologies other site – in Austin, Texas – has become Novati Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Tezzaron Semiconductor Corp. (Naperville, Illinois) in October 2012.

TSI has a 200-mm wafer fab in Roseville, where is continues to manufacture for Renesas Electronics Corp., the company that sold the fab to Telefunken in 2011. The company also has a 150-mm wafer fab in Heilbronn, Germany acquired from Atmel Corp. The company has its own process technologies for power, analog and mixed-signal as well as processes licensed from Atmel that it is able to offer to third parties.

Pushpala said he plans for TSI to operate a technology development center – the Technology, Development & Commercialization Services (TDCS) organization – at Roseville, along similar lines to that which was offered in San Jose, but with the advantage that TSI can go to initial volume production before handing the process off to a larger foundry.

"Having previously been on the customer end of the technology development and manufacturing process in the analog and mixed-signal space, I know how important it is to have a strong working relationship with a foundry partner," said Pushpala. "TSI's model, which encourages close engagement with its customers and brings technology development and manufacturing closer to home, is a key differentiator and a strong foundation for the company's growth. I look forward to nurturing the environment for innovation that TSI has created and working with the newly appointed executive team to achieve our goals."

Pushpala said his goals for the company would be to find an additional five customer engagements by the end of 2013 and to double manufacturing capacity within 12 to 18 months. He said that it would not be necessary to acquire additional wafer fabs or cleanrooms to do that.

Although TSI now owns the SVTC site in San Jose the company has started to move semiconductor manufacturing equipment to Roseville where the TDSC business will be based. TSI is backed by Somerset Capital Group Ltd., which helped finance the $52 million acquisition of the Roseville wafer fab, and Wafra Capital Partners Inc.

"With his strong knowledge of the semiconductor industry and a wide network, Sagar is ideally suited to drive the company's growth strategically and lead the strong team we have put into place." said Michael Gontar, chairman of TSI and chief investment officer and a director at Wafra Capital Partners, in a statement.

The company also announced it has appointed Roger Lee, as chief operating officer, John Doricko, TSI vice president of sales and marketing and president of TDCS and David Bridgeford as CFO.

By: Docmemory
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