NXP Semiconductors said it plans to propose the appointment of the company’s current president and former head of its automotive business as its new chief executive. NXP, the world’s largest vendor of semiconductors used in cars, is recommending Kurt Sievers to replace current CEO Rick Clemmer, who has been in charge for more than a decade.
Sievers has been NXP's president since September 2018, overseeing and managing the company's business units. He has also served on NXP's corporate management team for more than a decade, including leading the unit selling high-performance processors used in cars, which has become one of the biggest battlegrounds in the chip industry in recent years. He joined the company in 1995.
“After a distinguished career establishing NXP as the world leader in automotive semiconductor solutions, Kurt is the ideal candidate to become NXP's next chief executive," Peter Bonfield, chairman of the company's board, said in the announcement on Thursday. Netherlands-based NXP said its board will nominate Sievers as its next chief executive at its annual shareholder meeting on May 27th.
Clemmer has served as NXP's chief executive since 2009. NXP agreed to buy Freescale Semiconductors for $12 billion in 2015, catapulting it to the top of the global market for microcontrollers and other components used in cars. He was also at the helm when NXP agreed to Qualcomm's $44 billion bid to buy it out in 2016. But the deal fell through in early 2018 due to regulatory difficulties in China.
“The opportunity that lies ahead for NXP is significant,” Sievers said in the statement. "We leverage our focus on safe and secure edge computing along with connectivity and efficient power management. We have made great strides in our execution and I will stay true to this successful and winning strategy. As an organization, we will continue to passionately focus on our customers' success based on trusted partnerships."
