Marvell Co-Founders Bestowed GSA?s Highest Honor
The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the voice of the global semiconductor industry, proudly announces the co-winners of the 2013 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award: Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Sehat Sutardja and President and Co-Founder, Ms. Weili Dai of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (Marvell). The duo of successful business partners will be presented with this lifetime achievement award during the GSA Awards Dinner Celebration on Thursday, December 12, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
“We are honored to present this year’s Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award to a power couple who together created and built from the ground up a leading company that has had GSA’s attention since it was first recognized with the “Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company Award” in 1999 and “Most Respected Public Semiconductor Award in 2005,” said Jodi Shelton, president of GSA. "Not only are their individual contributions to today’s modern semiconductor age noteworthy, but together Sutardja and Dai have used their engineering prowess to creatively tackle important global issues in our society, including the support and promotion of education.”
Established in 1999, the first GSA “Exemplary Leadership Award” was given to Dr. Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive officer of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). Today, the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions, exemplifying how their vision and global leadership have transformed and elevated the entire semiconductor industry. This is the first year the award has been awarded to two recipients. Through their joint leadership, Sutardja and Dai have utilized their proprietary DSP technology to create a global leader, providing complete silicon solutions from mobile communications to storage, cloud infrastructure, digital entertainment and in-home content delivery. This has propelled Marvell to become a leading semiconductor company with more than $3 billion in annual revenues, more than 7,000 employees and a market cap in excess of $5 billion.
“We are very humbled and deeply honored by this prestigious Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Awardand we will accept this award on behalf of our entire Marvell global family. We are very thankful for the great upbringing by our lovely parents, the great education we received from our wonderful teachers and professors, and our dedication, beliefs and support for each other,” said Dr. Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai. “Since we co-founded Marvell, it has been our passion, vision and mission to invent and drive the world’s most advanced technology and innovation in the high tech industry. We are so proud of the entire Marvell global team for their contribution, invention, and tireless dedication. Today, Marvell has become one of the top fabless semiconductor companies in the world. We are very committed to continuing our efforts in leading the industry and driving the ‘Connected Lifestyle’ vision with other partners in the ecosystem to expand access to information and knowledge to people all around the globe and to make the world a better place.”
Dr. Sehat Sutardja is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern semiconductor age. His breakthrough designs and guiding vision have revolutionized numerous industry segments, from data storage to the high-performance, low-power chips now driving the growing global markets for mobile computing and telephony. His lifetime passion for electronics began early; he became a certified radio repair technician at age 13 and has been designing components and systems ever since. For his relentless innovation, he has been awarded more than 260 patents, recognized as the Inventor of the Year by the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association and has been named a Fellow of IEEE. In 2012, Dr. Sutardja, was awarded the Indonesian Diaspora Lifetime Achievement Award for Global Pioneering and Innovation at the first-ever Congress of Indonesian Diaspora, presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. The award recognizes Dr. Sutardja’s achievements in advancing technology through innovation in engineering, driving adoption of technology into new markets and evangelizing the use of the latest technology in developing nations that will greatly impact the future.
As co-founder of Marvell, Dr. Sutardja has served as Chief Executive Officer since its inception and President from inception until July 2013. Dr. Sutardja has also served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors from inception until 2003 and as Chairman of the Board since 2003. While remaining deeply involved in the daily challenges of running a global growth company, Dr. Sutardja participates heavily in Marvell´s engineering and marketing efforts across analog, video processor, and microprocessor design while offering input across all of the company´s other product lines.
Dr. Sutardja has become an internationally-recognized proponent of new energy efficiency standards for consumer electronics. To that end, he has been working with the governments in both the United States and China to establish efficiency performance standards that could produce significant cost and carbon savings.
Dr. Sutardja holds Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University.
Weili Dai is one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world today. Widely considered a technology visionary, she is the only woman co-founder of a global semiconductor company, and since it began in 1995, she has helped Marvell´s rise to become one of the top semiconductor companies in the world. Ms. Dai´s business acumen, strategic thinking, product leadership, endless passion and personal network have contributed greatly to Marvell´s fast rise to success. Her close relationship with her customers and the foundation of the trust shared with them has given her a strong reputation for professionalism and integrity throughout the technology industry. Ms. Dai has served a pivotal role in creating some of Marvell’s most important strategic relationships and under her leadership Marvell´s technology has become an integral component of many of the world´s most important products in enterprise, communications, mobile computing, consumer and emerging markets. She has also become a driving force in expanding access to technology in the developing world and an ambassador of opportunity between the United States and China, particularly in the arenas of education and green technology. Ms. Dai has become a powerful advocate for the better use of technology to improve the human condition.
For her contributions to technology and society, Newsweek named Ms. Dai one of the "150 Women Who Shake the World" and was recently profiled by CNN International for the Leading Women Series: Leading the Female Tech Charge, Leading Women Principles Fair and Care, Educating for Future Success, and Leading Women Inspire Others. Additionally, Forbes Magazine lists Ms. Dai as one of the "World’s 100 Most Powerful Women".
Ms. Dai has held a number of significant positions within Marvell since she co-founded the company: she currently serves as President and has served as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the Communications Business Group. She has also been a Director and Corporate Secretary of Marvell. Prior to co-founding Marvell, Ms. Dai was involved in software development and project management at Canon Research Center America, Inc. Ms. Dai holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Ms. Dai is an active philanthropist, leading Marvell´s global civic engagements, including major partnership with the One Laptop Per Child program (OLPC). She is a member of the executive committee for TechNet and Bay Area Council; sits on the board of the disaster relief organization, Give2Asia; and was named to the prestigious Committee of 100, an organization representing the most-influential Chinese Americans. Celebrated as the glue behind her company, family and community, Ms. Dai is the proud mother of two sons who are Electrical Engineering graduate students at UC Berkeley; Christopher and Nicholas are currently Ph.D candidates.
Ms. Dai was selected as the first woman commencement speaker at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Engineering graduation ceremony on May 12, 2012.
In recognition of their generosity, Sutardja Dai Hall at her alma mater UC Berkeley was named for Ms. Dai along with her husband Sehat Sutardja, CEO of Marvell and Pantas Sutardja, CTO of Marvell. Sutardja Dai Hall is home to the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS).
About the GSA Awards Dinner:
The annual GSA Awards Dinner Celebration is the industry’s premier event. Each year the GSA recognizes companies that have demonstrated excellence through their vision, strategy, execution and future opportunity. The celebration honors the achievements of semiconductor companies in several categories ranging from outstanding leadership to financial accomplishments, as well as overall respect within the industry. The Awards Dinner Celebration will start at 5:30 p.m. with a networking reception, followed by dinner at 7:00 p.m.
The dinner is made possible by title sponsor TSMC, VIP and networking reception sponsor OptimalTest, as well as general sponsors Advantest, Amkor, ASE Group, Broadcom, Cadence Design Systems, CSR, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, IBM, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, Open-Silicon, MagnaChip, Marvell, Mentor Graphics, Morgan Stanley, Needham & Co., QUALCOMM, Rambus, Revitas, Samsung, SMIC, SuVolta, UMC and VeriSilicon. To make reservations to attend the Awards Dinner, please visit the reservations page.
About GSA:
The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) mission is to accelerate the growth and increase the return on invested capital of the global semiconductor industry by fostering a more effective ecosystem through collaboration, integration and innovation. It addresses the challenges within the supply chain including IP, EDA/design, wafer manufacturing, test and packaging to enable industry-wide solutions. Providing a platform for meaningful global collaboration, the Alliance identifies and articulates market opportunities, encourages and supports entrepreneurship, and provides members with comprehensive and unique market intelligence. Members include companies throughout the supply chain representing 30 countries across the globe. www.gsaglobal.org
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20131024005416/en/