TOP NEWS

Three Southern California Firms Get EETimes Focus

Semiconductor and electronics industry publication EETimes has identified three of Southern California's semiconductor startups among its annual list of sixty startups to watch in the industry. The magazine, in its list of startups worth watching, identified Efficient Power Conversion Corp. in El Segundo; RFaxis in Irvine; and Transphorm in Goleta as companies in its list, which was based on evaluating technology, market, maturity, financial position, investors, and leadership. The three are among the rare set of semiconductor and hardware startups in Southern California to gain venture backing in the past few years, in what has been a very spotty market for VC investments in the sector. Efficient Power Conversion Corp. is headed by Alex Lidow (formerly of International Rectifier); Transphorm is backed by Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and is developing Gallium nitride-based power conversion technology; RFAxis is developing BiCMOS, RF front end ICs for the wireless market.