From Casting Chess Pieces to Becoming a Global Heatsink Manufacturer
2024 is a milestone for Radian Thermal Heatsinks as we celebrate our 50-year anniversary.
The story began in 1974 in San Jose, California, when Bruce Truesdell, a chess hobbyist started making and selling metal chess pieces from investment casting. As his hobby blossomed into a business, Intricast Company was incorporated and moved on Laurelwood Road in Santa Clara, California.
A few years later, Gerry McIntyre acquired Intricast, and that event proved to be a defining moment. With a strong background in Engineering, Gerry had a vision of the company he wanted Intricast to become, with more offerings of diverse casting services to various industries. The acquisition of Intricast thus laid the foundation for Radian Thermal Products. Intricast started producing custom electronics components using investment casting and the company rapidly expanded.
In 1990, Intricast moved into a larger facility of 35,000 sq. ft on Walsh Avenue in Santa Clara, CA to accommodate its expanding operations. The building on Walsh Avenue remains today the headquarters of Radian Thermal Products.
As a casting company, Intricast had already started producing casted heatsinks, particularly elliptical fin heatsinks for major Silicon Valley companies such as IBM and Sun Microsystems. The transformation into a global manufacturer of custom heatsinks had begun.
The Heatsink Manufacturing Division
In 1993, Intricast developed its elliptical standard heatsink line as its activities had diversified. Taking advantage of its expertise in high-quality precision casting, the company had launched itself further into the manufacture of heatsinks. Intricast developed its Parametric Heatsink Calculator software based on extensive empirical and CFD Simulation data, which allowed the design of heatsinks at a much faster pace than companies using traditional CFD tools.
The turning point in the company’s history happened in 1995, when Intricast launched its dedicated heatsink division with the objective of gaining a decisive foothold in the industry. It expanded its line of products to machined and extruded heatsinks in addition to improving its manufacturing capabilities in Asia to manufacture forged, skived, and stacked fin heatsinks.
In 1998, Mong Hu joined the company to lead operations for Investment Casting and CNC Machining. Mong was subsequently promoted to President of Intricast in 2008 while Gerry remained CEO and Chairman of the Board.
In 2000, Intricast established its subsidiary in Taiwan and bolstered its local USA operations with Rapid Prototyping services. Now well a recognized heatsink manufacturer, the Radian Heatsinks division was launched in 2001 to separate Heatsinks products from the traditional casting products.
Growing in Maturity and the Final Transformation
During the next few years, Radian Heatsinks grew in strength and maturity, and in 2002, the company obtained its ISO 9001: 2000 QMS (Quality Management System) certification. Since then, Radian Heatsinks was reassessed in 2018 and was found to be also in conformance to the ISO 9001:2015standard.
In 2003, Radian launched its Online Store, offering OTC/COTS standard heatsinks for low quantity requirements. In 2005, heat pipes are added to its expanding line of products while the support team grew to include sales representatives across North America and engineers to oversee products development.
In 2008, Radian expanded in Europe and further into Asia. In 2010, Radian developed its own line of vapor chambers to answer the growing need for specialized thermal solutions.
In 2012, Radian Heatsinks and Intricast merged to become Radian Thermal Products, Inc. The new branding illustrates the company’s focus and vision in providing Thermal solutions to diverse markets.
In 2017, Thierry Sin was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Radian Thermal Products. Thierry had previously joined Intricast in 2004 and worked in numerous key roles in Engineering and Sales and as Executive Vice-President. Thierry Sin is featured in Concordia University’s 50 under 50 Shaping Tomorrow as a graduate from its engineering program. With a rich background in engineering, sales, marketing and management, Thierry has the skillset and vision to shape Radian’s future in a new technological age.
Global expansion and new capabilities
The past 7 years have seen an accelerated expansion of Radian Globally. New Engineering and Sales staff are now in Europe, Canada, Asia, and across the US. Radian manufacturing capacities have now grown to include heat pipes assemblies, liquid cooling, stamping, and skivedheatsinks. The USA facility is now complimented by factories in Taiwan, China, and Vietnam.
Looking Ahead to a New Age of Automation and Digitization
As digitization pushes even further into the fabric of our daily lives, we see the potential in designing even more advanced cooling systems to meet the even more demanding thermal management needs required by those technologies.
Radian Thermal Products stands tall as a leading manufacturer of custom heatsinks, offering specialized thermal cooling products to a diverse industry, from telecom/datacom to medical, defense/military, fiber optics/lasers, security hardware, data centers/servers, and more. A few of them are:
- Low-Profile Heatsinks
- Cold Plates
- Liquid cooling systems
- Our Patented Vapor Chambers
- Heat Pipes
Radian Thermal Products offers the reliability of 50 years of expertise in its industry. Headquartered in the Silicon Valley, we are an ISO certified company, RoHS / REACH compliant and abide by ITAR (The International Traffic in Arms Regulations).
