GigaBit Logic Projects Dip, Trims Payroll

GigaBit Logic, a Newbury Park company that makes advanced semiconductor chips for computers, said it has dismissed two vice presidents and 31 other employees because it expects business to slow.

The across-the-board firings cut the company’s payroll to 94. The dismissed vice presidents are Anthony Livingston, who directed sales and marketing, and Zelimir Deil, who supervised product development.

Greg Barnhart, national sales manager, assumed Livingston’s duties. Deil’s responsibilities were shifted to John D. Heightly, GigaBit’s new president and chief executive.

Heightly declined to disclose the company’s recently lowered revenue projection. Privately held GigaBit had sales last year of nearly $45 million, but said it didn’t turn a profit because of heavy investment in research and development.

GigaBit, founded in 1981, is one of a handful of companies developing commercial applications for chips made from gallium arsenide, which allows computers to work faster than they do with silicon.

The dismissals came one month after Heightly was named president. He had been president and chief executive of Amtec Information Technologies of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Heightly succeeded Heinrich Krabbe, who remains as chairman. Krabbe, a GigaBit director since September, 1985, became president and chief executive in March when Fred A. Blum, the company’s founder, resigned after getting into a dispute with other directors.