Soitec Announces Changes to its Board of Directors

  • Kai Seikku co-opted as Director to replace Nabeel Gareeb
  • Jeffrey Wang co-opted as Director to replace Weidong Ren

Bernin (Grenoble), France, May 27, 2019 – Soitec (Euronext Paris), a world leader in designing and manufacturing innovative semiconductor materials, today announces decisions taken by its Board of Directors during its meeting held on last May 6th.

Following a reorganization of the NSIG group due to its initial public offering, Nabeel Gareeb1 and Weidong Ren2 have resigned from their positions as Directors, effective respectively from March 27th and May 7th. The Directors warmly thanked them for their attendance and contribution to the Board’s and Committees’ works since they have joined them.

In accordance with the Company’s shareholders agreement, NSIG Sunrise S.à.r.l. has proposed Kai Seikku and Jeffrey Wang to replace them. After deliberations, the Board of Directors has decided to co-opt them, respectively for the remaining terms of office of Nabeel Gareeb and Weidong Ren, i.e. until the close of the Shareholders’ General Meeting which will be convened on July 26th.

Furthermore, Kai Seikku was appointed as a member of the Strategic Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Compensation Committee, while Jeffrey Wang was appointed as a member of the Audit and Risks Committee.

Kai Seikku’s biography

Since 2010, Kai Seikku has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Okmetic Oy, a world-leading silicon wafers supplier specializing in the manufacture of tailored, high-value added silicon wafers for MEMS, sensors, discrete semiconductors and analog circuits.

Since Okmetic Oy’s 2016 takeover by NSIG group, an industry holding company focused on semiconductor material business and its ecosystem development, he has also been an Executive Vice President of NSIG group.

In parallel, he is a director within the Boards of Robit Oyj (since 2018), Inderes Oy (since 2016) and verkkokauppa.com (since 2013). He is also an Industrial Advisor at Intera Partners, a private equity firm (since 2013).

Kai Seikku has 20 years’ experience in executive general management and has been a company director for 19 years.

Prior to joining Okmetic Oy, he worked in the food industry as the CEO of HKScan Corporation (from 2005 to 2009), and in the marketing sector as the Country Manager of McCann-Erickson for Finland (from 2002 to 2005) and as CEO of Hasan & Partners (from 1999 to 2005).

Kai Seikku began his career as a consultant for Bossard Consultants (Gemini Consulting) (from 1991 to 1993) and then for Boston Consulting Group (from 1993 to 1999) where he worked as a project leader for Finland and Sweden.

Kai Seikku holds a Master of Economics from the Aalto University of Helsinki.

Jeffrey Wang’s biography

Since 2016, Jeffrey Wang has been the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Shanghai Simgui Technology Co., Ltd (Simgui), Soitec’s historical partner and a leading global supplier of customized silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and epitaxial wafers and solutions for the semiconductor industry. Since March 2019, he has been an Executive Vice President of NSIG group3, an industry holding company focused on semiconductor material business and its ecosystem development.

He is a semiconductor veteran with 29 years of experience in R&D, manufacturing, operations and corporation management.

Prior to joining Simgui, Jeffrey Wang was Vice President of Operations (from 2008 to 2012) and then President and Executive Director (from 2012 to 2015) of Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (ASMC), a leading analog semiconductor foundry (from 2008 to 2015).

Previously, he also worked as General Manager of ANADIGICS China Corporation (from 2007 to 2008), Vice President of Operations of Shanghai Belling Corporation (from 2006 to 2007), as well as Senior Manager and Special Assistant to Senior Vice President of Operations of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) (from 2001 to 2006).

Jeffrey Wang began his career in the Silicon Valley as an engineer for Vishay Siliconix (from 1995 to 2000) and then for Maxim Integrated Products (from 2000 to 2001).

Jeffrey Wang holds a bachelor degree in physics and a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Fudan University in Shanghai, followed by a post-doctor position in applied physics at Harvard University.

Agenda

Soitec will publish its full-year results on June 12th, 2019 after market close. These results will be commented as part of a Capital Markets Day which will be held on the next day, on June 13th, 2019, in Paris.

About Soitec

Soitec (Euronext, Tech 40 Paris) is a world leader in designing and manufacturing innovative semiconductor materials. The company uses its unique technologies and semiconductor expertise to serve the electronics markets. With more than 3,000 patents worldwide, Soitec’s strategy is based on disruptive innovation to answer its customers’ needs for high performance, energy efficiency and cost competitiveness. Soitec has manufacturing facilities, R&D centers and offices in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Soitec and Smart Cut are registered trademarks of Soitec.

For more information, please visit www.soitec.com and follow us on Twitter: @Soitec_EN

Soitec is a French joint-stock corporation with a Board of Directors (Société Anonyme à Conseil d’administration) with a share capital of € 62,762,070.50, having its registered office located at Parc Technologique des Fontaines - Chemin des Franques - 38190 Bernin (France), and registered with the Grenoble Trade and Companies Register under number 384 711 909.

[1] On proposal of NSIG Sunrise S.à.r.l., one of the three Company strategic investors, Nabeel Gareeb had been appointed as Director by co-optation during the Board meeting held on November 29th, 2017. His nomination followed the resignation of Xi Wang and was subsequently ratified during the Shareholders’ General Meeting on March 23rd, 2018.

[2] Weidong Ren had been appointed on proposal of NSIG during the Shareholders’ General Meeting of April 11th, 2016, approved contingent upon final completion of the share capital increase reserved to Bpifrance Participations, CEA Investissement and NSIG. The actual starting date of his term of office is the same date of final completion of said reserved capital increase, i.e. May 2nd, 2016.

[3] Simgui is part of NSIG group

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