Diodes Buys Most of Simi Valley Firm

Diodes Inc., a Chatsworth semiconductor maker, said Monday it paid roughly $1 million to buy most of a semiconductor company in Simi Valley run by the brother of Diodes’ president.

Taitron, which has annual sales of about $1 million, sells mostly to distributors, while Diodes sells mostly to companies that use semiconductors in direct manufacturing. Alan Lees, Diodes’ general counsel, said three Taitron salesmen will join his company.

Semiconductors are small chips, usually silicon, containing circuitry. They are used in a variety of electronics equipment, especially computers. One of Diodes’ customers, for example, is IBM.

Included in what Diodes bought from Taitron are some rectifiers, which convert alternating current to direct current, and which have a variety of uses.

The president of privately held Taitron, which Lees said is less than two years old, is William Lloyd, brother of Diodes President David Lloyd. Taitron’s president was unavailable for comment.

Lees said Taitron has been profitable in its last three months, but lost money during the year before that.

Diodes reported last week that its profits in the second quarter ended Oct. 31 fell 83% on an 11% decline in revenue mainly as a result of the continued industry slump. Net income was $47,000, or 2 cents a share, down from $281,000, or 13 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue was $2.8 million versus $3.1 million last year.