Phillip Espinasse, M.S., MBA
Analyst Phillip Espinasse partners with high tech electrical and optical engineering companies to develop innovative business and technical solutions to guide strategies ranging from investment tactics to long-term business plans. Drawing on his experience conducting market assessments, competitive reviews, patent portfolio analyses, peer reviews, and patentability and patent invalidation reviews, Mr. Espinasse delivers intelligence critical to executive decision-making in the areas of marketing, product design, and research and development.
Mr. Espinasse spent five years in semiconductor R&D, engineering, and sales and marketing with PolarFab (Bloomington, Minn.), now known as Polar Semiconductor, Inc., a subsidiary of Sanken Electric Co Ltd. He also has five years of technical journalism experience with Key Enterprises (Minneapolis, Minn.). As an engineer, he developed a design methodology and subsequently modeled photodiode antireflection coating stacks suitable for photodetector integrated circuits (PDICs) used in CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc (BD) applications. Mr. Espinasse also managed a broad spectrum of competitive analysis activities including technology reviews, competitive benchmarking and reverse engineering of competitor integrated circuits (ICs). After being recruited into sales and marketing, he managed high-level engineering projects for customer release, with a focus on defining the company’s product offerings. Concurrently, Mr. Espinasse expanded his depth of knowledge by covering the electrical and optical engineering industries. After a brief stint with VerticalNet Inc.’s Photonics Online e-publication covering breakthroughs in photonics and fiber optics, he joined MSP Communications as a technical magazine editor, where he reported the latest technological advances and market/business trends in optics, optoelectronics and photonics in SPIE’s OE Magazine. While earning his M.B.A. in international business and finance at the University of Hawaii, Mr. Espinasse performed market research, financial analysis, and modeling, with heavy emphasis on real-estate acquisitions for the investment banking firm Blackpoint Capital Advisors in Honolulu. He also worked in the University of Hawaii’s Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development, where he assisted on a variety of market research projects. In addition, Mr. Espinasse holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, where his research focused on the design and fabrication of an aluminum nitride microwave thin film resonator (TFR) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern University, where he specialized in optoelectronics. Mr. Espinasse authored or co-authored more than 160 business and technical articles on optical, optoelectronic, and semiconductor-related technologies, as well as engineering management. Among the publications he wrote for are SPIE’s OE Magazine, SPIE Professional, Micro Magazine, Chip Design Magazine, IEEE Circuits & Devices Magazine, Compound Semiconductor Magazine, and Photonics Spectra. Mr. Espinasse is fluent in French, and has traveled extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Areas of Expertise
- Electrical engineering
- Business
- Competitive intelligence
- Optics/microelectronics/optoelectronics/photonics
- Semiconductor manufacturing and processing
- Materials
Industries
- Electronics
Credentials
- M.B.A., International Business & Finance, University of Hawaii
- M.S., Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, Northwestern University
- Bloomberg Certification, Equity Track III
- Member, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Member, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE)
Publications
Mr. Espinasse authored or co-authored more than 160 business and technical articles on optical, optoelectronic, and semiconductor-related technologies, as well as engineering management. Among the publications he wrote for are SPIE’s OE Magazine, SPIE Professional, Micro Magazine, Chip Design Magazine, IEEE Circuits & Devices Magazine, Compound Semiconductor Magazine, and Photonics Spectra.
Selected publications
Espinasse, PB, “The evolving MOEMS IP landscape”, SPIE Professional, p. 12-13, January 2007
Espinasse, PB, “Patents: Left-handed material IP on the rise”, Optical Design & Engineering, SPIE (http://www.SPIE.org), April 2007
Espinasse, PB, “Eddie would be proud”, Hawaii Magazine, Vol. 22, No.2, p. 68-70, March/April 2005