Vitesse Semiconductor Joins Chip Consortium

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. of Camarillo is part of a consortium that is developing low-cost, low-power chips that the company says will vastly increase the speed of communication between computers and high-performance disk drives.

The new chips, being developed in cooperation with Interphase Corp. and Seagate Technology, will allow data communications at speeds of slightly more than 1 billion bits per second, Vitesse spokesman Robert Turnage said.

Turnage said the chips will probably go into production in the first quarter of 1993. “They should be a significant product” for Vitesse, he said. Samples should be available by the end of the year, he added.

Vitesse, whose shares are traded on NASDAQ, had sales of $23.8 million in the year that ended Sept. 30.