Fremont, California-based Volterra believes it is in a fast-growing sector of the market. It said chips with greater processing power need more sophisticated power management solutions. It quoted researchers Gartner Dataquest as forecasting that the power management semiconductor market will grow from $3.6bn in 2003 to $6.8bn in 2007, a compound annual growth rate of 17.4%.
Volterra’s figures show it has benefited from a growing market. Revenue increased from $4.4m in 2001 to $25.1m in 2003 when it made a net loss of $4m. In the first quarter of this year to March 31, it recorded net income of $269,000 on revenue 25.4% higher at $7.6m.
The company’s chips are incorporated into products from companies such as Cisco Systems, EMC, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, and NEC. However, it has to battle it out with formidable competitors such as Analog Devices, International Rectifier, Intersil, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated Products, Semtech, and Texas Instruments.
