News

28 July 2009

 

AXT appoints Young as CEO

Maker of compound semiconductor substrates AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA has appointed Morris S. Young, Ph.D. as chief executive officer, effective from 16 July 2009.

Young co-founded AXT in 1986 and served as its CEO from 1989 to 2004. He has been a director of AXT since 1989 and held the position of chairman of the Board from 1998 to 2004.

"Morris has extraordinary technical expertise and a vast amount of knowledge and experience in compound semiconductors that was unequaled in our extensive CEO search. While our process yielded several strong candidates, we felt that Morris was the most qualified to make an immediate positive contribution to the business, and to effectively carry out AXT's long-term vision to be the number one advanced semiconductor materials supplier of choice through high quality, effective cost of ownership and a customer-focused philosophy.” said Jesse Chen, AXT’s chairman. "We would also like to express our gratitude to Wilson Cheung, AXT's chief financial officer, for his service as AXT's principal executive officer and to our senior management team for their dedication and commitment to ensuring a smooth transition for our customers and employees during our CEO search,"

"I am very pleased and excited about the opportunity to once again lead AXT," said Young. "I believe that the company is in an excellent position to emerge from this economic climate stronger than ever and I look forward to working with AXT's very talented management team to continue to move forward on our mission. Our broad product portfolio, expansive manufacturing capability and strategic joint venture agreements allow us the flexibility to meet our customers' requirements as the demand environment evolves.”

From 1985 to 1989, Young was a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He holds a B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering from National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, a M.S. degree in metallurgy from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in metallurgy from Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

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AXT’s chairman & CEO Yin steps down

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