New products are industry's life blood

ECN Asia spoke to Hans Rohrer, CEO of Zetex Semiconductor Inc., on the Company's business direction and the importance of power management in today's power-hungry applications. Excerpts.



What has changed since you joined Zetex as CEO last year?

Rohrer: The Company is now more focused on marketing and sales, combined with a relentless drive for excellence. This has been achieved through extensive communication and empowering employee involvement. Zetex is now a much more exciting place to work in, and this shows through an energetic work force which has the confidence and belief that we can win in a big way.



What region has the highest growth rate for Zetex in terms of revenue?

What is driving this growth? Rohrer: Revenue is strong across all geographic territories, with revenue growth of 19 percent in Asia, 16 percent in Europe and 8 percent in the US in 2005. Since 2002, Asia has become the biggest sales area for us, driven by both local designs over a wide variety of different applications and transferred businesses primarily from the US. We will continue to strengthen our presence in Asia by opening new offices. We also have a strong joint venture with Yaguang in China, and we are seriously evaluating possibilities to expand it. What Zetex products are in demand by Asian manufacturers?

Rohrer: We have a broad product portfolio which offers applications across multiple market segments. Our products are particularly strong in all sorts of power management applications. During the last 12 months, very strong growth has been achieved in the LED driver market and in the digital broadcasting over satellites (DBS) market.



More than 60 percent of your sales came from the generic power management segment. Do you see this continuing?

Rohrer: Power consumption is becoming more critical in almost every end-equipment. This is clearly one of the mega trends today, and this will continue to fuel demand for technologies and products like the ones in which Zetex excels. Our power-efficient products are the foundation of the company, and we are convinced that we can a c h i e v e exceptional growth there.



How much do you spend on R&D? Do you plan to stay at this level moving forward?

Rohrer: New products are the life blood of the industry. I do see us investing in R&D in the range of 14 percent of revenue per year over the next couple of years. One investment focus will be in the LED driver market where I expect exceptional growth, particularly in Asia. Last year, we invested primarily on application-specific devices. These markets comprise products for five market segments: power management, DBS, motor control, digital audio and lighting.