TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. will open a new design and support center in High Point, North Carolina, as part of its ongoing program to work more closely with strategic partners and customers in the development of next-generation wireless modules and components. Known as the North Carolina Design Center (NCDC), it will further expand the company’s product development activities. Recently, TriQuint opened a new 25-person design center in Chelmsford, Mass., that consolidated two offices in New England. Locating the new center in North Carolina was supported in part by a grant from the city of High Point, N.C., and its economic development council. TriQuint representatives said the High Point community’s desire to attract high-tech business interests played a part in the company’s decision to locate a design center there.

“This new facility – our second to open in less than a year and our sixth product development location overall – will bolster design activity and supplement existing resources,” said Brian Balut, TriQuint vice president. “The new center will further enhance TriQuint’s creative resources and foster collaboration among engineers and scientific experts from both within the company and our customers throughout the Eastern Seaboard and our European staff. The center’s development focus is to leverage TriQuint’s wireless expertise, translating that into new solutions for our customers,” he added.

Work at the North Carolina center will touch on a wide array of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) technologies. The company expects to move into its new suite by August this year. According to TriQuint, its North Carolina Design Center will initially employ a professional staff of six engineers, with an expectation that total employees will grow eventually to between 20 and 25, depending on the mix of positions and as necessitated by business opportunities within the overall global wireless industry.