DURHAM - It's no secret that the founders of semiconductor company Nitronex have long considered moving from their Raleigh headquarters to Durham, but now the company says it's also considering a move to the West Coast.

On Monday, county commissioners voted unanimously to offer $100,000 in incentives to get Nitronex to move to Durham County.

If Nitronex does relocate to an industrial park just outside Research Triangle Park, the move could bring up to 200 new manufacturing jobs to the Triangle over the next five years, executives told the board. This would more than quadruple the company's current size and bring a projected $24 million in other investments, including the purchase of manufacturing equipment.

Nitronex got its start in 1999 as a spinoff from N.C. State University, and its semiconductor products are used in diverse ways, including in cell-phone towers to boost signal strength and in auto dashboards for illumination.

The company has raised $77 million in financing since its inception but after a quick start has labored quietly in recent years. Employment has hovered around 50 workers, despite early predictions that it could employ hundreds by now.

Still, customers and investors show confidence in future growth, said Jim DeVivo, finance director for Nitronex.

"We're having a lot of positive feedback on our existing products," DeVivo said. "If our business ramped the way we project, we would need a lot more people on the manufacturing side."

Nitronex executives and officials in Wake and Durham counties made clear that the incentives were not aimed at luring jobs from Raleigh to Durham.

Many who have followed Nitronex's development thought the company eventually would move from an office park south of the NCSU campus off Blue Ridge Road to Durham to manufacture its products in a 69,000-square-foot facility just outside RTP.

The factory, which sits near the intersection of Miami Boulevard and Alexander Drive, was custom-built for Nitronex, and the company has signed a long-term lease and pays property taxes.

"We realized early on that their location [in Raleigh] was temporary," said Kenneth Atkins, director of economic development for Wake County for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. "Their long-term commitment has always been to Durham County."

Moving into the space has always been part of Nitronex's corporate strategy, DeVivo said. But as the company prepares to embark on manufacturing the products it has developed, it also has re-evaluated its plans, he said.

"Our options are still open," DeVivo said.

The other offer or offers Nitronex is considering all are out of state, he said.

Carolyn Titus, a deputy county manager in Durham who said she has been working with Nitronex since last fall, said the company is considering a move to California. Though Nitronex expressed an interest in moving to RTP as early as 2001, offering incentives was necessary, county officials said.

"There's something pulling in both directions," said Ted Conner, vice president for economic development for the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce. "We always try to make our pull a little stronger."

It's not safe to assume that the company would move simply because it had leased a facility, said County Manager Mike Ruffin.

DeVivo issued the same caveat. If the business moves out of state, he said, it would be prepared to sublease the factory in RTP.

While Ruffin said he's confident that the vote by commissioners Monday will be one of the last pieces in the plan to recruit Nitronex, DeVivo had a more conservative take.

He said Nitronex's decision was not necessarily contingent upon the decision of the commissioners.

"We've got some other moving pieces that we need to get some closure on," DeVivo said. He expects a formal announcement in April, he said.

(Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox contributed to this report.)