(Taipei News) Winbond Electronics Corporation announced today that Mr. Tsuyoshi Kawanishi has become the Corporation newest board member . Winbond's Chairman of the Board, Mr. Arthur Chiao noted, "During his nearly half of a century in the semiconductor business, Mr. Kawanishi has presented remarkable leadership capabilities, talent and dedication. We expect his experience and participation will be greatly beneficial to Winbond. It is a great honor to have Mr. Kawanishi as our newest board member, and we look forward to his contribution as we work together towards our goal of making Winbond a world- class corporation.
Mr. Tsuyoshi Kawanishi has been involved in the semiconductor industry for nearly 50 years. Over the past five decades, he developed an excellent reputation. His contributions started with the birth of Japanese semiconductor industry. Mr. Kawanishi began his career at Toshiba Electronic Co. Ltd. (now Toshiba) where he was a research and development engineer. He advanced to become the chief of various departments including manufacturing, quality control, production technology and production equipment and purchasing. He was also involved sales, marketing and the making strategic business decisions. He participated in Toshiba's "W Battle"strategy and was instrumental in helping Toshiba's semiconductor business enter the international arena. In 1986, he directed Toshiba's "New W Battle"strategy to further enhance Toshiba research and development capability and extend that Company global capabilities. Under his leadership, Toshiba achieved mass production of its 1Mb DRAM products and secured a global leadership position in the semiconductor market. Toshiba also established an alliance with Motorola for manufacturing memory chips and microprocessors and signed the "TRIAD Plan" agreement with IBM and Siemens to jointly develop advanced DRAM production technology. Mr. Kawanishi is considered a world-class business leader, balancing business foresight with sagacity. He has played a pivotal role in both the development of the worldwide semiconductor industry and in global business trends management. He has also made outstanding contributions to both of Toshiba's semiconductor business and the development of Japan semiconductor industry.
Mr. Kawanishi has long endorsed a business philosophy that combines micro and macro strategies; emphasizing the fine details of day-to-day operations (micro) while balancing larger sales and marketing issues (macro). He has openly worked to balance this philosophy with large-scale investments, global strategies and strategic alliances espousing the motto, "Keep your eye on the big picture but your hands in the details." He brings three key business values to his new appointment: keen insight into daily operations, a firm and persistent management style, and a global perspective on growing the business. These three values, he says, are key to adjusting business strategies to suit the dynamic business environment of the worldwide semiconductor industry.
Currently, Mr. Kawanishi serves as chairman of the Society of Semiconductor Industry Seniors. He is also a board member of many global high technology companies and professional organizations including Applied Materials, Inc., and Asyst Technologies, Inc.. This global business experience has enabled him to facilitate a number of cross-cultural alliances and a variety of high successful business ventures.
Mr. Kawanishi noted, "New technology development is just like mountain climbing; once you finished scaling the first summit, you can see the next, and the next with many unmet challenges on the horizon. The history of the semiconductor business is full of such challenges, and despite all of the astounding achievements, as we enter into the 21st century, the technology revolution continues at an ever increasing pace."
After pursuing excellence in his professional life and establishing a number of highly successful business models in the semiconductor market, Mr.Kawanishi retired six years ago to pursue his goal of giving back to the industry in the form of sharing all of his knowledge and experience.
Over the years, Winbond has experienced increasing success in new product development and production while successfully expanding its sales, marketing, strategic alliances. Winbond's success has been guided by its board of directors, which includes Ming-Jen Chien, Mathew Feng-Chiang Miau, Benny Wu and Yu-Lang Mao.The board has provided crucial direction for Winbond's business strategy and foresees that the addition of Mr. Kawanishi to the board will bring a fresh new perspective to Winbond. The Company expects that his broad range of experience and international business expertise will help to facilitate Winbond's international business strategy.
Tsuyoshi Kawanishi Resume Highlights
1929 Born in Kanagawa, Japan
1952 Graduated from Electronic Engineering Department, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Joined Toshiba Electronic Co. Ltd. (now Toshiba)
1982 Promoted to Director of Semiconductor Operations , Toshiba
1984 Elected as board member, Semiconductor Operation , Toshiba
1988 Executive Vice President , Toshiba (has responsibilities for all Electronic Components, LCD, CRT, Semiconductor, Batteries, Materials, etc.)
1990 Designated as Senior Executive Vice President , Toshiba
1994 Served as Acting Consultant, Toshiba
1999 Toshiba Company Friend
1999 Named Chairman, WSMC, Taiwan
Current Positions
Board of Directors and Consultant, Winbond Electronics Corp.
Company friend, Toshiba, Japan
Member of Board of Directors, Applied Materials, USA
Member of Board of Directors, Asyst Technologies, USA
Member of Board of Directors, CSM, Singapore
Chairman of the Board, IME, Singapore
International Advisor to Singapore Technologies
Senior Consultant of TSMC, Taiwan
Chairman, Society of Semiconductor Industry Seniors, Japan
Spokesperson
Wilson Wen
Vice President of Administrative Center
Tel:03-5792755
News Liaison
Mike Liu
Deputy Director
Tel:03-5792516
Email:ckliu@winbond.com