Power-sharing deal

Ciclon Semiconductor Device Corp., a start-up company that began in 2004 with three employees in Bethlehem, has been sold to global giant Texas Instruments for an undisclosed price, company officials announced Friday.

The deal will allow Ciclon, which designs energy-saving high-frequency semiconductors, to expand its products and customer base while allowing Texas Instrument to improve energy efficiency in areas such as higher power computing and server systems.

''Combining Ciclon's technology and expertise with TI's industry-leading power management semiconductor portfolio gives us a tremendous advantage when solving customers' complex power design requirements,'' said Steve Anderson, senior vice president for Texas Instruments' Power Management division.

For Ciclon, which was launched with the help of $150,000 investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the move is another step toward continued growth and success, said Mark Granahan, the company's chief executive officer.

''Now that TI has acquired us, we can expand in the number of products and customers that we have,'' he said.

Granahan said the company has grown from three people in 2004 to 35 in 2007 and 50 today. He said the deal allow it to increase its employment roll 25-30 percent ''over the next couple of years.''

Granahan sees Ciclon as the missing component in a

three-pronged crown of technology offerings which Texas Instruments can now provide.

Ciclon's technology reduces the amount of energy required to run systems. Its power chips reduce heat generation from power supplies and put it to use, channeling the heat back to the device as energy. As a result, power consumption is reduced by 20 percent, the company said.

''We see this as bringing an awful lot of value to Texas Instruments,'' he said.

Granahan credits much of Ciclon's success to Ben Franklin -- a state-funded economic development organization that provides funding, lab space and expert guidance to start-up tech companies.

Ciclon is the anchor tenant of Ben Franklin's facility at Lehigh, encompassing 15,000 square feet of lab space with room to add another 25 employees.

''This facility offers a great place for technology to be developed and nurtured,'' Granahan said.