Korean Connection Helps Austin Tech Company
Javelin Semiconductor of Austin will be making a key component for Samsung phones. Photo courtesy flickr.com/matt_gibsonby Tyler Pratt for KUT News
A small Austin semiconductor company has landed its largest contract thanks to a growing relationship between Central Texas and South Korea.
The company, Javelin Semiconductor, will produce a power amplifier for one of Samsung’s new Android smartphones.
Javelin spokesman Robert Wagner partially credits the company’s continued relationship with Samsung to Austin’s connection to Seoul, South Korea.
“There’s a good relationship in general between Austin companies and Samsung in Korea,” Wagner said. “So we get some good recognition from the Korean side of Samsung that we are this Austin company and that they’ve had good success with other local Austin companies, like Silicon Labs, for example.”
Susan Davenport at the Austin Chamber of Commerce adds that the University of Texas has been influential in building the cluster of technology and talent in Austin that Samsung can now enjoy.
“We think UT is critical to that component, both from the graduates they put out, the research they do, the collaboration throughout the community with the tech ecosystem at large, and really being just a major driver in the region of developing that ecosystem, from all fronts,” Davenport said.
Samsung recently announced a $4 billion investment in its Austin production facility. That’s the largest single foreign investment ever made in Texas.
