MICROSEMI IRELAND TRADING

Their core work

Microsemi Ireland Trading is the European commercial entity of Microsemi Corporation (acquired by Microchip Technology in 2018), a US-headquartered manufacturer of high-reliability semiconductors, power management ICs, and mixed-signal electronics for aerospace and defense. In H2020, they led two Clean Sky 2 Innovation Actions focused on aircraft power electronics: modular power converter solutions and high-voltage power electronics technologies for next-generation aircraft. Their industrial contribution centers on delivering radiation-tolerant, high-reliability power components suited for the demanding electrical environments of aerospace platforms. Both projects position them as an industrial partner bridging commercial semiconductor capabilities with the specific requirements of more electric aircraft architectures.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects were launched in the same year (2018), making it impossible to trace a meaningful evolution across time from this dataset alone. The two projects address adjacent problems — power conversion at the system level (AMPS) and high-voltage component technology (PHiVe) — suggesting a deliberate strategy to cover multiple layers of the aircraft power electronics stack simultaneously rather than a sequential shift in focus. No project activity appears before or after 2018 in the H2020 record, which may reflect the broader corporate transition following Microchip Technology's acquisition of Microsemi in 2018.

With no post-2018 H2020 activity visible, it is unclear whether Microsemi Ireland continued pursuing EU-funded aerospace R&D after the Microchip acquisition — any future collaboration should verify whether the entity remains active in European research consortia.

How they like to work

Microsemi Ireland acted as coordinator on both of its H2020 projects, indicating it entered EU research in a leading rather than supporting role — consistent with a large industrial player bringing commercial technology into publicly funded programmes. Both projects involved small consortia (averaging around 3 partners each from 3 countries), suggesting focused, technically tight teams rather than broad multi-stakeholder alliances. This pattern is typical of Clean Sky 2 Innovation Actions, where an industrial prime drives a specific technology challenge with a few targeted academic or SME partners.

Across both projects, Microsemi Ireland worked with 6 unique partners spread across 3 countries, pointing to a compact, transactional network built around specific Clean Sky 2 calls rather than a recurring long-term partnership ecosystem. The geographic footprint is European but narrow, consistent with Clean Sky 2's aviation industry cluster in Western Europe.

What sets them apart

Microsemi Ireland is one of the few large private companies (non-SME) in Ireland that took a coordinator role in Clean Sky 2, which is dominated by aerospace OEMs and research institutes. Their differentiation lies in combining commercial semiconductor manufacturing scale with aerospace-grade qualification capability — a combination that pure research institutions cannot match. For a consortium needing a component supplier who can take work from TRL 4–5 toward an industrially qualified product, this entity occupies a specific and hard-to-replace position.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AMPS
  Largest of the two projects at nearly €500K and focused on modular power converter architectures — a key enabling technology for more electric aircraft — with Microsemi Ireland in the coordinator seat.
• PHiVe
  Longer project duration (2018–2021) targeting high-voltage power electronics, reflecting deeper R&D investment in component-level technologies that underpin next-generation aircraft electrical systems.