Air Semiconductor, the Swindon-based wireless start-up, is looking for more staff to help develop its first products for the mobile phone and handheld device market.
“We’re looking for digital IC designers, lay-out guys, software designers and programme management people,” Air’s co-founder and v-p of marketing, Stephen Graham, told Electronics Weekly.
Air says it is recruiting for roles in VLSI verification, RTL design, digital implementation, analogue and digital IC layout, embedded software and programme management.
Air, which celebrated its first birthday earlier this month, is still in stealth mode and will not talk about what it is specifically trying to do.
“It’s a product for cell-phones but it’s also applicable to battery operated handheld devices,” said Graham.
Asked about the skills of the employees currently in Air, Graham replied: “We’ve got RF IC designers, digital IC designers, software designers.”
Asked if it was trying to be another Icera, Graham replied: “We’re not competing directly with Icera, but we’d be very pleased if we could grow a company like Icera.”
Graham came from Renesas Technology, and before that worked for GEC-Plessey Semiconductors.
Air is set up on the fabless business model. Graham founded the company last year with David Tester, who was formerly at Symbionics, Conexant, LSI Logic and Dialog.
The company is backed by Pond Ventures, and Pond general partner Mike Gera is on the Air board. The company is also backed by the SETsquared university initiative run by the universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey.
Earlier this month, Gary Johnson, former president and CEO of PortalPlayer the supplier of low power application processors for MP3 players including, at one time, the iPod, also joined the Air board.