A New Start for Plessey Semiconductors

A famous name has been resurrected following the bold decision taken by the management teams from Plus Semi in Swindon, UK, and the former X-FAB facility in Roborough, Plymouth, UK, to re-launch Plessey Semiconductors Ltd. The company has been created from the acquisition of the share capital of X-FAB UK Ltd. together with existing key engineering competence within a design and technology centre located in Swindon.

The semiconductor manufacturing facility in Roborough currently produces eight-inch wafers for external customers in a foundry business modelled on 0.35 micron CMOS process technologies. Plessey Semiconductors is transferring its bipolar process technologies on both silicon and silicon-on-insulator substrates to the facility, with the transfer scheduled for completion in 2010.

Both the CMOS and the bipolar process technologies will be used to support a set of existing foundry customers. However, Plessey Semiconductors aims to follow in its namesake’s footsteps by developing and supporting a range of high performance analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor products.

“The historical significance of what we are doing is not lost on the management and employees of our new business,” said Michael LeGoff, Managing Director of Plessey Semiconductors. “A large proportion of our employees started their careers in Plessey working in the various sites around the UK. We see this announcement as a return to our roots. This is a business model that addresses a market that we know very well—designing and manufacturing a set of high technology semiconductor products that competes with any semiconductor company in the world.”