Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to INA Insights where prominent leaders and influencers shaping the industrial and industrial technology sector discuss topics that are critical for executives, boards and investors. INA Insights is brought to you by Aina AI, a firm focused on working with industrial companies to make them unrivaled segment of ONE leaders. To learn more about Aina AI, please visit our website at www.aina.AI.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Good morning folks. Welcome to our next episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast series where we host leading executives in the industrial technology ecosystem to explore a wide variety of topics including macroeconomic, business strategy, operational transformation and their outlooks for the future. Today we have the distinct Honor of hosting Ms. Christine King, also goes by Chris. She's an accomplished leader in the semiconductor industry. Ms. King serves on Skyworks Board of Directors of the lead Independent Director today and is the Chair of its compensation committee. Skyworks, as we know, is an $80 billion market cap semiconductor company which empowers all the wireless networking revolution happening around us. Ms. King also serves as a co Chair of the Board of Directors for Henry Shine one, where she leads the company's software and technology strategy and initiatives. She also established and serves as Chair on Henry Schein's Technology Advisory Board Chris King's career is a remarkable story within the technology industry. She was a 20 year old single mother with a high school diploma in the 1970s who would become the semiconductor industry's first female CEO. Leveraging her innate capabilities, passion and grit, Ms. King earned an Associate and Bachelor's degree in Electrical engineering and began a career at IBM where she rose through the ranks and built multiple billion dollar businesses before leaving IBM to be appointed President and CEO at AMI semiconductors. Following AMI Semiconductor's successful sale to Onsemi, Ms. King was appointed President CEO of Standard Microsystems and subsequently Executive Chair of the Board of Q Logic. Over the course of her career, Ms. King has served on multiple Boards of Directors within and outside the technology sector, including Analog Devices, Atheros, Serious Logic on Semiconductor. In addition to her corporate governance work, Chris keeps herself busy as a champion equestrian in the sport of cow cutting. And we're also excited to hear that she has a forthcoming personal memoir slated for release later this year, tentatively called Breaking the Silicon Ceiling, documenting her amazing journey, which we would love to hear more about during this show. Chris, we are thrilled to have you on the show today and our listeners are looking forward to hearing your perspectives. So thank you for joining us.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Thank you so much Gaurav, and it's a real pleasure and honor to be here.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Thank you Chris. So Chris, maybe we Start off with your perspectives on the technology industry and particularly semiconductor industry, where it stands today. Could you share a little bit about your current capacity at Skyworks and what the company is about, what's the strategy and what attracted you to that opportunity on their board?
[00:03:09] Speaker C: I'd be happy to do that, Gaurav. Skyworks Solutions is known as the company that connects everyone everywhere. And we're known primarily for our wireless capability and RF capability, which is quite unique, not only in the design capability but in our manufacturing capability which uses quite unique technologies. And in addition to that, Skyworks has been branching out to other analog capabilities in the sensor area and very primarily in the IoT space. So it's a great company. And in terms of what attracted me there, I love the culture of the company. It's a let's win kind of culture and I love that it's great, it's a great team and they're all in it to win it and we have great customers.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I think as users we can totally attest to the fact how powerful their products are and services are to us in today's day and age. Chris, speaking a little bit about just leveraging your experience in the civic industry, it's a hot topic today with what all is happening in the geopolitics and the criticality of this industry in our day to day lives, would love to get your point of view on the state of the union of semiconductors today. How would you describe it? What excites you, what are you concerned about and what are you seeing players do to kind of navigate what's coming ahead in front of us?
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Well, you can always say that the semiconductor industry is always exciting, always a roller coaster and we all know about the cycles that the industry sees and that's been that way since the beginning of the semiconductor industry. But I also think the semiconductor industry is very resilient and I think particularly we saw that during the pandemic, how we were able to adjust and you know, companies like Skyworks and many other companies got such a boom from the remote, remote workplace and people wanting to connect, whether it's wirelessly or otherwise. And also I think the, the China industry has been very interesting in terms of our relationships with China, which has also been kind of on a roller coaster. And at Skyworks we've experienced that as well when a few years ago our second largest customer was Huawei. So obviously that's not the case anymore. So it's amazing to me how resilient the semiconductor industry is and its ability to adapt to change and truly incredible.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Incredible journey semiconductors have been on. So, Chris, from your perspective, looking ahead, what are the two or three markers of things you expect the companies to be doing to navigate what's coming down the pipe?
[00:05:39] Speaker C: I think it's always about matching core competencies to needs in the marketplace. And I think every successful company has to be looking at the white space. I think, as you well know, AI is definitely a big driver these days. So we have to be looking at where we can match our team and our capabilities to what customers are going to want and need in the future. And I think even more importantly, what the market needs and what technology makes possible. So there's always lots of opportunities. We just have to be cognizant and find them.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: I think speaking a little bit more about that, Chris, semiconductor companies are always on a technology treadmill, right? They have to continuously invest in innovation, continuously go to the next node or the next unlock in performance.
As a leader in this space yourself, being a chief executive of so many companies for so many years, how would you engender such a culture? How would you make sure that companies are able to do that level of innovation literally year in, year out?
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Well, I often think it's about people. It's all about people having the right leaders, having the right technical talent. And so I think people is the most important ingredient. And I think it's also interesting as we followed Moore's Law for so long in terms of hardware and lithography, now sometimes it's more about intellectual property. So there's always those changes. And as I said, we have to be prepared for the next great thing. And the semiconductor industry has been really good at that. But I think it's definitely about the people and how we can best harness their capability, making them the best that they can. And I think that's been one of my assets as a leader, is getting the most out of people and encouraging them to win.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Thanks for sharing that, Chris. Just a little bit on that team itself. I think even my experience in the semiconductor industry, I saw a little bit of this gap between perception and reality, where I think the amount of innovation the industry was driving is so incredibly high. But candidly, even before I started working in industry, I would not be able to name Skyworks as a company at all in the book, at least, which we pursued. I mean, the theme of being underappreciated, not understood. Well, undervalued came out in multiple aspects. You've obviously been an incredible executive with such a vast level of experience. How would you evaluate that thesis that semiconductor industry has been underappreciated, undervalued or misunderstood over the last few decades.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: I think there's two things that underappreciated assets need to be aware of. And I think I totally can relate to Diamonds in the Rough. And there are two of the most important constituents in my career. The first is the customer and I think the power of the customer. It's extremely important. And so we have to connect with customers and markets. And I think that's one way that our Diamonds in the rough can be successful. But the second thing is shareholders. And so there the communication is so important. So at the right time, I think that many companies fall short of being able to explain their value proposition, whether it's to investors or to the street. And that's why it's so very important. I actually participated in an analyst day for investors last week for Henry Schein in terms of dental software. And it's funny that now I'm involved in the healthcare industry and dental software very different from semiconductors, maybe not quite as exciting, but communicating what we're able to do for the healthcare industry today and offices and doctors with AI and other things is really exciting. So it's that communication that I think is important.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Terrific. Terrific. Chris. So Chris, a little bit on your tenure as CEO of at Standard Microsystems, it was an incredible story. You led a transformation of Standard Microsystems into a leading developer of silicon based ICs. Could you talk about the major things or the major strategic moves you made which helped enable the company achieve that transformation?
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Well, my career has been interesting because I started at Standard Microsystems in October of 2008 when everything was crashing and our largest customers, which I think accounted for 70% of our revenue, were HP and Dell. And of course that just went through the floor. So that's always a wake up call. And I would just add my first day as CEO at AMI Semiconductor was on 911 2001.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: So I always draw any correlation stress.
[00:10:03] Speaker C: I don't know, I always started with a challenge. And so really at SMSC we had no choice, but if we were going to survive, we needed to find some different markets. And so we decided, okay, we're a big player in the computing market, but first of all we need to adjust ourselves to wider than what we had done before, which was kind of as a piece of glue, silicon for the computing engine for customers like HP and Dell. So we spanned out to USB as an example, where Apple became a large customer. So we tried to transform ourselves in that market. But we also added a major focus on the automotive business where we became the number one networking company at the time in automotive, for in the cab, communications and networking. And we also transformed ourselves into the consumer space by acquiring some wireless companies. So we really had to redirect our focus to different markets and how we could apply our capability. And we were successful in doing that. And as a result, P and Dell and their computing platforms came to probably about 10 to 20% of our revenue and 80% in these new areas. So that's the transformation. But we had a great team, Chris.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: I mean, incredible transformation story and seriously big moves you guys made to pivot the company away to the newer areas of focus. Any thoughts and perspectives on what it took to move the organization in the same dimension? Because we've seen, at least in the past, it's not easy. People are set on certain ways, processes are set in certain ways. So what did that look like?
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Sure. And I would also relate to my experience at AMI where we were an ASIC provider of a very low density asics. Really not a powerful value proposition at all. And we were able to transform that company into being an analog custom house, which really happened as a result of our acquisition of Alcatel Microelectronics. And similarly at smsc. We were able to acquire a number of companies. And what I find is when you bring particularly different cultures together in acquisitions, you can either get a one plus one equals ten or you're a train wreck. And we were able to really integrate the cultures and take existing team members and capabilities and add to that new talent and new capabilities. And that really, I think, turns the organization on fire. And so once again, it kind of goes to the people and how we integrate fantastic skills to make a winning team.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: That's terrific. Chris, you talked about your experience in integrating as you acquired other companies and new capabilities and talent in the company. I think SMI in the end got acquired by Microchip as well. Could you speak a little bit about being a leader of such a successful enterprise and then kind of merging it with another enterprise from a people perspective, like, what were the considerations you were going through as you thought about that particular opportunity?
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Sure. I think that certainly the semiconductor companies I ran were subscale and, you know, things were changing to a large degree and we felt that we really could be more successful as a team and as a business if we were acquired or integrated into another business. And so as we grew, we got to a point where I think it made a lot of sense and in terms of making a activity successful, I think it's all about personal relationships. In the case of Microchip, Steve Sange and I struck up a good relationship where there was trust and confidence. And in all of the acquisition capabilities that I've been involved in, it's really been about those personal relationships and trust and obviously communicating the value proposition of the company.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Chris, I'd love to pivot now a little bit to your personal journey and things we can derive for your peers from there. Could we speed start by talking about your memoir which is about to come out. Could you speak a little bit more about the genesis of it and maybe share some key pearls for our audience? Maybe as a quick preview, as you.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: Said, Gaurav, I kind of started out as a single mom with an 18 month old. I had a high school education, I lived in a trailer, didn't have a lot of prospects. And so my journey from there to becoming the first female CEO of a semiconductor doctor company, many people kept saying, you need to write a book, you need to write a book. And I always put that in the back of my mind. But I think I realized, of course I don't have an Ivy League education. I kind of wish I did. I did get my bachelor's in electrical engineering and I didn't come from privilege or connections. And so I think my journey kind of from getting on welfare to where I ended up, the lessons that I learned along that journey was something that a normal person could relate to. And it's been interesting. I think about 60 people have read the book, kind of pre copy my soft copy. And it's from the person that the driver that drives me to my horse trainer, to CEOs of companies including Lisa Su has read the book, who's of course very successful female CEO. And they all got so much out of it in terms of the lessons learned. And so I just felt like I really needed to write the story down. And I have 12 lessons that I learned along the way and how I use them to my advantage. And also I have to give a shout out to Ray Stata, who founded Analog Devices, his book writer. He has a small book that he's written, helped me in writing my book and getting the memoir down. So it was great that Ray was able to give me that connection.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: That's really good that Ray was able to give the connection and you got this memoir. Hopefully it's hitting the stand soon and we can't wait to read it. And I'm sure it'll be incredibly valuable for all of our as well. So looking forward to it. So, Chris, I think we've talked about the fact that you've been the first female CEO in the semiconductor industry. Doesn't take a rocket science to figure it out. It's been a male dominant industry for such a long time. Would love to just be in your shoes for a little bit and just understand what were the challenges? How was it like to go from, like starting in the, in the early ranks leading up to a CEO position? Like, what was that experience like?
[00:16:27] Speaker C: It was pretty tough. There were a lot of roadblocks. I think things have changed a lot for sure. But I think what's interesting about it, the three major constituents of a leader that we spoke about before, customers, shareholders, as well as the team that works for you, that's what's important. And what I find is with those three, being a female leader or business person hasn't been an issue because customers love to have value delivered to them, shareholders love companies that make money, and teams love to be on a winning team. So that hasn't been an issue. But the issue comes in, at least in my case, and I think in a lot of women or different diverse people of diverse backgrounds, is in your boss that you have that you're competing with. When you're competing, whether it's with some peer or potentially with a boss, it gets to be pretty tough because I think we just have differences between males and females and different people and that reality comes into the picture. So I find when people felt I was going to kind of threaten them or get ahead of them or something like that, it was always difficult. So as I work in different areas, you know, obviously in the healthcare industry, there's a lot more diversity. But still I find that I'm in the room where people are talking over each other and a lot of times it's men talking over women. So, you know, I think that's what's natural. But we have to use the assets and the lessons that I learned in my journey, the power of the customer, how everyone loves financial results. Those are things that I think we have to use and those are what makes us all successful.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Sage words indeed, Chris. Chris, you mentioned on the three pillars of your beliefs, the talent was a core part of it, having people on the winning team. Now talent management is becoming more and more tougher in today's environment. Many reasons for it. Would love to just get your perspective, given your experience as a CEO as well as a business and engineering leader as well. What was your approach to talent management? How would you attract the right talent? How would you nurture it and retain it would be really helpful given how big an issue it is turning out to be for companies in this space today.
[00:18:44] Speaker C: Absolutely. I think the main thing in attracting and retaining talent is people want to do great things. And so if we're on a great path with a great product and we can sell that to people, it becomes very attractive for them to come. But I think once people join in our organization, giving people the leeway to be the best that they can be, to give them as much responsibility as they can handle at the time, and as a leader, to guide them on that journey to being the best they can be, I think that's also really important, and that's what I try to focus on, is to help people feel really good about what they've accomplished and to ensure that they get the recognition once they accomplish something. So I think that allowing people to advance to their highest level of performance, number one, and secondly, when they get there, to reward them amply, I think those are the two things that are really important. But having something exciting to work on and being enthusiastic about it is really key for a leader. So enthusiasm is really important.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: That is definitely true. And at least in my personal experience, sometimes I found it hard to engender that enthusiasm beyond myself as well. Any tactical tips, Chris, how you would use it? How would you excite your engineering team about what they're working on or any tactical ideas for our listeners?
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Well, I would say that I have really failed at retiring and so currently I'm working full time on leading a team, as I said in software. And I think that the key is to put the right people in the right places. So, you know, we never want to put round pegs and square holes or the other way around, however it goes. But I think getting the right people in the right positions, giving them a vision and a mission and then the, the assets and guidance to help them achieve that mission is what's really important. So I think it's pretty much basics of leadership. And I think for us in the industry, compared to, say, a military leader, you know, sometimes our job isn't quite as tough. So it's all about the mission, achieving the mission. And I think as leaders, we can't have an ego in that we have to understand what the mission is and convey that to our people and just be all in achieving that.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: That's very helpful advice, Chris. So, Chris, I'll move to my final question for you. For this session, you've had a storied career in the semiconductor industry. If there's a young professional today who's aspiring to be a leader, a member of this kind of industry, in the industrial sector or the technology sector broadly, what advice would you have for them if they're starting off today?
[00:21:23] Speaker C: Well, I think I have a couple of pieces of advice. First is don't be too quick to get into a management or leadership position. I think it's really important to have the technical experience and build up some capability there because I think as executives, our technical instincts help us so much. I mean, I was fortunate enough to grow up, at least in my engineering career when we started being able to use microprocessors and build PCs out of them. And I learned from that. And as executives, we have to make quick decisions. So good instincts are always important. So I always encourage young people really to know your field and to spend some time in understanding the nuts and bolts in that. And then when we get into leadership positions, I think my second piece of advice is we always have setbacks and we can't let those get us down. So persistence is really important. Persistence pays. And one of the lessons that I convey in my memoir is if you can't go through, go around. So sometimes you might get up against a brick wall and you're not advancing anymore. You have to figure out a different path, whether it' you're in engineering, well, go try sales or something like that. So we have to be persistent and find the right path that gets us where we want to go. And I can tell you I've had many successes in my career, but I've also had many setbacks and I. You just have to get over that and keep driving to the finish line.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Chris. I think the more I hear about you, the more I can't wait to get my hands on the memoir. So thanks a lot. I think there's so many pulls of wisdom for it for us there and our listeners. So thank you so much, Chris, for being part of this series.
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Love being here. Love talking to you. Grav. It's been great.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: It's been fantastic, Anara, and it's been a real honor. Thank you so much, Chris.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to INA Insights. Please visit Ina AI for more podcasts, publications and events on developments shaping the industrial and industrial technology sector.
