US company Virata, which develops chips for the DSL (digital subscriber line – broadband communications on telephone infrastructures) market, has announced it is setting up a new silicon chip design center in Israel. The company will invest $80 million in the new center. The center’s goal is to expand the company’s design capacity and enlarge the team of VLSI design specialists (a process in which thousands of electronic components are embedded on one chip).
Until now, Virata’s Israeli representative developed software for integration with company-manufactured components. In April, Virata acquired Israeli company Inverness Systems for $115 million in shares, changing the company’s name to Virata Israel. The Kfar Sava-based company currently has 33 employees, with a transfer to Herzliya Pituah scheduled for next year. Virata Israel president and founder Jonathan Masel is in charge of setting up the new development team.
Virata president and CEO Michael Gulett said, “Acquiring Inverness has enabled us to extend our activity to Israel, one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries. Opening the new design center, together with our existing offices in Israel, gives us a foothold in an existing focus of specialists in the field and allows us to expand our technological horizons to new regions.”
Published by Israel's Business Arena on September 28, 2000