News & Analysis
Comment
Juan Valdez
Change is controversial and rarely welcomed by those comfortable with the status ...
Silicon_Smith
Agreed. Also the word "negative" comes up a lot, from my friends who are/were at ...
Freescale CEO Rich Beyer's three big moves
Junko Yoshida
11/17/2010 5:37 AM EST
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Richard Beyer, who joined Freescale Semiconductor as CEO in March 2008, is neither a chip head nor a financial wizard, nor is he some self-proclaimed “visionary” touting the next-big-thing.
Raised in Brooklyn, he studied Russian in high school, moved on to Georgetown University and emerged not as an EE, but a linguist. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps. So, how does a man of so checkered a background cope with the challenge posed by Freescale, one of the most debt-ridden chip companies in the world since its acquisition by private-equity firms Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Permira, and TPG Inc. in 2006?
Beyer today shows no signs of either fear or fatigue. Instead, he’s upbeat and confident of himself, his executive management team and his company. His team has already reduced and restructured debt to a point where Beyer now chats blithely about a potential IPO.
EE Times last week caught up with Beyer in Freescale’s San Jose office, to discuss a wide range of issues.
EE Times: First, a little background. How do you land in the semiconductor industry?
Beyer: I grew up in the pre-semiconductor era, first by selling Burroughs’ Unix computers in the Eastern bloc (I was then based in Vienna, and later in London). Later, at Rockwell, I dealt with companies like ITT and Alcatel.
When Gil Amelio, then National Semiconductor CEO, whom I’ve known since Rockwell days, recruited me in the early 90’s, he painted the future of semiconductors as something consisting of “a bundle of functions” on any given system. I don’t mean to oversell my story, but Gil convinced me I could be the person who understands how system companies think, behave and get motivated – in order to help National.
EET: How did you learn about the industry?
Beyer: I spent six months at National, getting lectures from engineers once a week on two topics: how we make semiconductors and how we design semiconductors. I understand the underpinnings of design and manufacture. I’m not frightened by technologies, and I’m not afraid to admit what I don’t know.
EET: Any advantage to being a non-EE CEO at Freescale?
Beyer: I don’t get lost in the weeds.
Richard Beyer, CEO at Freescale Semiconductor
EET: Freescale coined the term “fab-lite,” but several years before you joined. The whole industry followed the trend – except for Intel. But as process technology gets more complicated, don’t you wonder if the decision not to have design and manufacturing under one roof may come back to haunt you?
Beyer: We no longer need design and manufacturing under the same roof.
In the 1960’s and 70’s, when it was still very difficult to manufacture chips, there were times when testing of wafers, for example, could have damaged chips. That made everyone think, “Do I need to make changes in a process or in a design?”
But once methodologies are well established and design rules became stable at foundries like TSMC and Globalfoundries, I don’t think the “under-one-roof” theory applies.
Of course, engineers in the design community always wonder if they can improve the performance of their chips by introducing certain changes to metal, chemical and other elements used in a process technology.
That’s possible, but if we keep it up across the board for every product, it will become very inefficient.
You don’t want to constrain engineers. But we need to be disciplined when we make such a one-off decision. For that, I rely on senior executives who have P/L responsibilities to be arbiters.
Next: Three biggest changes
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
goafrit
11/18/2010 7:22 PM EST
This company is competing, even in MEMS where they are playing key roles in their DSI communication protocol for automotive.
Sign in to Reply
equal
11/18/2010 10:33 PM EST
This company Freescale is NOT equal employer. Their hiring manager did not give equal access to an interview as requesting a reasonable accommodation.
Sign in to Reply
ted_h
11/19/2010 3:53 PM EST
From my friends who are still at Freescale, I hear comments suggesting far less enthusiasm at the actual worker level for the middle management teams. This resulted from a continuum of questionable decisions, a deliberate gutting of talent to save a buck leaving no one with enough experience to do the job, and a hostile attitude. The word "clueless" come up a lot.
Sign in to Reply
Silicon_Smith
11/26/2010 1:33 PM EST
Agreed. Also the word "negative" comes up a lot, from my friends who are/were at Freescale.
Sign in to Reply
Juan Valdez
12/31/2010 8:11 AM EST
Change is controversial and rarely welcomed by those comfortable with the status quo. To make change requires courage. Those who stand in the way of change will eventually be overrun by the inevitable. Evolution.
Despite resistance and anonymous negativity, those leaders who show stoic character to persevere are heroes that deserve praise rather than pessimistic rhetoric. I applaud Rich Beyer and his leadership team.
Never satisfied with second best. God bless!
Sign in to Reply
Godzilla
11/19/2010 5:55 PM EST
I was there during the downfall of the wireless business and I know a little of what you mean (ted_h). A sickly and negative atmosphere was pervasive within the company at that time. While the exit from that business may seem like a good move in hidsight, we will never really know what would have happened if that choice hadn't been made. Executive management often has the luxury of making arbitrary decisions without always being accountable for them.
I think I speak for several people when I say that the whole 'disengagement' from the wireless market was handled deplorably. Management was shuffled like cards on a deck. They, in turn, deployed their weapon of choice - innumerable 'reorgs', to what end, nobody knows. If somebody develops a metric to measure the final result of a reorg, executives may stop being so trigger happy.
Finally, it was sad to witness the outcome, when practically the whole of the wireless employee base was let go. This was after a protracted period of exploring alternatives, when senior leadership (read Tom Dietrich) remonstrated that the best interests of employees were being kept in mind. In the end, all paid the price, with the exception of - you guessed right - aforementioned leadership, who secured a spot amidst the chosen. Is it not a cornerstone of corporate management practice that the leadership garners the credit for success as well as the responsibility for failure? Was it not upto Rich Beyer to conduct his organization so?
My objective is not to heap recriminations upon anyone. In the world of professionalism, personal commentary is undesirable. I'm sure no one bears any ill will to any persons mentioned in the article. Yet, one must be careful not to view past events through the prism of present realities. As most of the audience here are engineers and not bankers, I thought more ought to matter to us than just revenue and market share counts.
Sign in to Reply
studleylee
11/23/2010 4:59 PM EST
Godzilla, I think we worked together and I couldn't agree more.
Sign in to Reply
Godzilla
11/19/2010 5:56 PM EST
My comment is rather unreadable, as the editor does not seem to recognize paragraph breaks. Apologies.
Sign in to Reply
pekon_
11/20/2010 7:06 AM EST
I hv been part of Freescale during its donw-turn.As per last editor notes, the internal factors made the company which had rich resource,to fall badly.
Major reason was, both the company & its ppl (employees) had become 'lethargic' then.. but with re-structuring & new senior team, i think things are improving..
But spoils of past would hv some repercussion in present & future..just that.
Sign in to Reply
wave.forest
11/20/2010 5:49 PM EST
As a Freescale customer, I think the company is in deep trouble. After the PowerQUICC, they seem having not produced any attractive products on time. I hope best luck to Beyers.
Sign in to Reply
Charles.Desassure
11/20/2010 6:31 PM EST
Thanks for your article. I like Richard Beyer, CEO at Freescale Semiconductor. There are some careers that a person background is an indication of their success. But in some areas, it calls for a leader who is willing to do just that…lead. When Bill Gates visited IBM many years ago with the idea of starting a company, they laughed in his face. Now they are happy to have Microsoft Coporation as a partner. Today’s CEO must be creative and willing to take risk. Hats off to Mr. Beyer.
Sign in to Reply
ralph.granchelli
11/22/2010 3:20 PM EST
Nice article!
I had the pleasure of working for Rich during my 26 year career.Have personally seen him in action many times.
After working for numerous technical CEO's, Rich was a breath of fresh air.
He is extremely personable.He has wide-band intelligence that spans every facet of the business.
However his strongest asset is his clarity of thought.He is unencumbered from the typical baggage.He is very creative.
If FS can be turned around, Rich can do it!
RG
Sign in to Reply
docdivakar
11/26/2010 1:19 PM EST
@Godzilla: thanks for your insights on Freescale... BTW your comments are readable, so no worries! Based on some of your comments, it seems like Freescale could have done a better job of repackaging its wireless business resources since Tom Dietrich is in charge of cellular products and RF, analog & sensor, per the article above.
The article quotes the Freescale intends to "add more value to smart mobile devices by offering processors, sensors and power chips...", a market with fierce competition. The article doesn't shed much light on how Freescale intends to do this strategically. There are many semi businesses that are already innovating in these areas including vertical integration of many functions in 3D chip designs (an evolving market I am some what familiar with where not much is heard from Freescale).
May be Rich Beyer is on to a strategy that will turn around Freescale but only time will tell...
MP Divakar
Sign in to Reply