Semiconductor testing firm PTSL secures £27m investment
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PTSL produces probe cards used to test semiconductors
A semiconductor testing firm formed after a major microchip maker shut its Scottish factory in 2009 is set to expand after securing a big investment.
Hamilton-based Probe Test Solutions (PTSL) said alternative asset management group Tikehau Capital had invested $30m (£27m) in the company.
It is understood the move will lead to a "significant" number of high-value jobs over the next few years.
PTSL was founded in 2009 by Jordan Mackellar and Gordon Stirling.
The pair, who had worked in the sector for some years, set up the business after Freescale Semiconductor - a spin-off from Motorola - closed its East Kilbride site, with the loss of 800 jobs.
The closure was a huge blow to "Silicon Glen" - the name given to the mainly central belt electronics manufacturing phenomenon.
Mr Mackellar, who started at Motorola Semiconductor Manufacturing in East Kilbride in 1997 as an apprentice technician and stayed until 2003, said: "There was a lot of hope in those initial years, and we were all excited to be part of so-called Silicon Glen."
But in the 2000s, jobs and investment dried up as hi-tech companies started to leave Scotland for the Far East.
Mr Mackellar said the Freescale closure was "a big blow to everyone who worked in the industry, especially for those of us who knew the potential we had here in Scotland".
He added: "I saw talented friends and colleagues being made redundant, just as the 'great recession' was starting, and it was heart breaking."
PTSL was co-founded by Jordan Mackellar (right) in 2009
However, a chance encounter the following year was to lead to the formation of PTSL.
"Gordon Stirling and I met at a church men's breakfast near Wishaw in 2009," he explained.
"I was selling probe cards - a highly engineered product used to test semiconductors - and Gordon was servicing the equipment that probe cards are used on (probers).
"We both had a burning desire to start a business and believed that all the great talent we had worked with in Silicon Glen shouldn't be wasted.
"That's when we decided to set up PTSL, and creating secure employment in Scotland has driven us from day one."
The company has grown to 75 employees, with the prospect of more jobs to come.
'Highly skilled workforce'
Mr Mackellar said: "In recent years the field we work in has become increasingly specialised, with customers really keen to work with highly technical teams. And that's been one of the keys to our success.
"We've been able to tap into a highly skilled workforce here in Scotland.
"And looking ahead, we only see that demand increasing, and that is why we are so confident about the future and are looking to add even more people to the team in the years ahead."
France-based Tikehau Capital, which remains a minority shareholder in PTSL, said this week it would provide the Scottish firm with the support it needed to accelerate further international expansion, including "appropriate acquisitions" in the semiconductor market.
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- Published28 January 2016