Chipmaker’s reorganization affirms its plans to maintain Hillsboro operations.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Chipmaker Qorvo’s reorganization affirms it has plans to maintain its Hillsboro operations, saving jobs.
Qorvo is the product of the merger of TriQuint Semiconductor by North Carolina-based Micro Devices last year.
TriQuint’s Hillsboro factory was similar to RFMD’s in Greensboro, and investment analysts immediately latched onto the duplicate factories as a potential source of cost savings for Qorvo. While Qorvo acknowledged excess production capacity, the company said it hoped to find a use for each facility.
Qorvo announced Friday that it will use public support from state and local governments in North Carolina to build a new office that will bring 300 employees now working in separate buildings under one roof and add 100 jobs there.
At the same time, Qorvo outlined long-term roles for each of the old RFMD and TriQuint factories. The Hillsboro factory, which makes communications chips using a specialized material called gallium arsenide, will become Qorvo’s main site for that material, which has properties that make it particularly suitable for communications technologies.
(READ MORE: OregonLive.com)
Qorvo’s HQs will remain split between the North Carolina and Oregon locations.
That manufacturing was also done in Greensboro. With the center of excellence model, all new designs will be done in Hillsboro.
In North Carolina, the company will add 100 new jobs as part of a $25 million expansion of its Guilford County operations over three years, according to an announcement from state and local officials.
(READ MORE: Portland Business Journal)
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