Toronto processor gets provincial funding for new video chips
by Matt Powell
Ontario government funding will create new jobs for Toronto IT company
The announcement was made at ViXS System Inc. headquarters in Toronto. Left: David Zimmer-MPP Willowdale, Sandra Pupatello-Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sally Daub - President and CEO of ViXS Systems Inc., Eric Erdman-CFO of ViXS Systems Inc.
TORONTO—Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has granted ViXS Systems Inc. $6.15 million to create 44 new jobs and support 96 others at the company’s Toronto headquarters.
“Ontario is home to 50 per cent of Canada’s digital technology sector, which means Ontario is also the home of good, reliable jobs for families. ViXS’s investment and this growing sector’s global market, Ontarians studying in this field can expect more new jobs in the future,” said Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sandra Pupatello.
ViXS Systems develops video chips for the global electronics market. These chips are used by leading electronics companies such as Sony, Sharp, Samsung and Toshiba. The company employs 280 people and is headquartered in Toronto. It has sales offices in the US, Germany, China, Japan and Singapore.
“This investment has allowed us to hire new talent and advance our leadership in new core video engine technologies, and allowed us to expand our customer base and geographical reach,” said ViXS President and CEO Sally Daub.
The company has invested close to $35 million in the current project—XCODE 4000 and 5000 smart media processors—to provide 3D graphics and process simultaneous multimedia tasks in BluRay players, personal video recorders and set-top boxes. ViXS estimates it will take about 18 months for the chips to go to market.
ViXS manufactures these chips in Taiwan at a plant owned by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Headquartered in in Hsinchu, Taiwan, TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry. Its managed capacity in 2010 totaled 11.33 million wafers and it supplies major manufacturers around the globe. It has worked with IT giants like NVIDIA, known for developing graphics chips for XBOX 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3.
The total project, valued at about $41 million is expected to attract foreign investment and enhance the Toronto-Kitchener-Waterloo Information and Communications Technology innovation corridor.
