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BATH-BASED PICOCHIP IS NUMBER THREE IN UK’s TECHNOLOGY FAST 50

Chip designer records five-year turnover growth of over 15,000 per cent, according to Deloitte ranking 

Bath-based picoChip has been named the UK‘s third-fastest growing technology company in this year‘s “Technology Fast 50” rankings from business advisory firm Deloitte.

The firm, which was set up in 2000 and designs sophisticated chips for wireless systems, has grown an astonishing 15, 324 per cent in the past five years. 

Its turnover in 2003 stood at £51,000, with the 2007 revenue figure approaching £7.9 million - placing it at number 3 in this year‘s Deloitte technology growth league table.

Mobile Commerce Ltd., based in Cirencester, is ranked as the second fastest growing technology firm in the South West – and number 45 in the UK – with revenues having grown 590 per cent in the past five years.  

The overall winner of this year‘s Technology Fast 50 is Hertfordshire-based Thunderhead, whose turnover has grown by more than 28,500 per cent in five years, with Cambridge company Ubisense in second place.

Rupert Baines, VP marketing at picoChip, which has a design centre in Beijing, as well as smaller offices in Korea, California and Shenzhen in China, said: “We were ‘born global‘ – in fact the UK is not a key market for our technology, and we‘ve always looked to the global market.  

“Our major source of revenue to date has been WiMAX chipsets, for which we‘ve become the dominant supplier. Femtocell chips will be our next big revenue generator, with the first few operators announcing their products.

“There‘s a very small pool of global talent available, and competition is fierce. Another issue we deal with daily is the fact that customers always take longer than one expects to move to volume production, so development time and related costs are high and will remain so.” 

Laurence Hedditch, Deloitte‘s Technology Partner in the South West, commented: “The South West of England is the leading area for silicon design anywhere in Europe and in spite of the challenging financial market conditions, picoChip has shown that stellar growth rates are still possible.

“While their products and services are at the cutting edge of global technology, it is important to note it is not just technology that makes these companies leaders in their sectors – it is about the quality of the people and their intellectual property.” 

ENDS                         11th November 2008  

For further information please contact Neil Fraser, Sturgess Van Damme, on 01275 349011 or email neil@sturgessvandamme.co.uk