Quality I.C., one of the largest physical design consulting groups in the Austin area, occupies 6,800 sf of the building in Oak Hill, southwest of Austin. The company is a division of Silicon Valley Research Inc. in San Jose, CA.

James Benouis, Silicon Valley Research president and CEO, says Quality I.C. plans to double its headcount in 2001 due to the demand for design services. It also is exploring the possibility of acquiring other service organizations to accomplish that goal. Meanwhile, Quality I.C. is expanding into new areas, such as IT services and front-end design.

The growth doesn't necessarily mean a physical move from the Austin division's space on Highway 71, says Rita Janke of Quality I.C.'s Austin office. "We are growing into the space we have," she told GlobeSt.com. Quality I.C. leases the space from The Trilogy Group in Austin.

Silicon Valley Research Inc. develops, markets and supports IC physical design software for floor planning, placement, routing, custom layout of submicron integrated circuits. The company's products are used by integrated circuit vendors and manufacturers, large electronic systems manufacturers and major aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics companies to customize their integrated circuits.