Programmable logic from the Enlightenment to Silicon Glen, Monday March 08 2010

Xilinx Scotland managing director Colin Carruthers reflects on the benefits of being located in the Inspiring Capital.

Xilinx, the world’s leading supplier of ‘programmable logic’, recently announced record revenues. The company is based in Silicon Valley, but its research and development hothouse is here, at Edinburgh Technopole. Edinburgh is a great place to attract thinkers. In that respect, you could argue that little has changed since the Enlightenment, when the city's coffee houses were filled with pioneers breaking new ground.

For Xilinx Scotland, our thinkers are highly skilled engineers developing solutions for next generation programmable logic devices. These are generic computer chips which can be customised by product manufacturers across a range of industries to perform specific functions.

From Silicon Valley to Silicon Glen

Our team at Edinburgh Technopole is part of Xilinx's's Intellectual Property Solutions operation and holds 40 patents. That's roughly one per head.

Being in Edinburgh is key to our success in attracting and retaining talent. Our developers and engineers come from various renowned academic institutions across Scotland, including Edinburgh. We also have a good track record in attracting international talent from Europe, Russia, Canada, India and Australia.

Edinburgh's culture, natural environment and access to sport and leisure activities are all big pulls.

Fuelling the Chinese dragon

For our parent company, access to world-class talent is what drives performance. Xilinx has just posted record quarterly revenues of $513.3m, up 24% on the last quarter and 12% on a year ago. Mushrooming demand from markets like China is fuelling demand.

Much of that intellectual property is developed here, in Edinburgh. For our team at Xilinx Scotland, it means a growing pipeline of specialised intellectual property developments that will keep us innovating for many years to come.