Wanted: future CEO for Veeco Instruments
Veeco Instruments, the epitaxy equipment vendor that develops and sells both MOCVD and MBE reactors, is looking for a new CEO.
Edward Braun, the current incumbent of that position, is not about to leave the company, however.
At the age of 67, Braun is set to become full-time Veeco chairman at some point in 2007. At the moment, Braun wears both the CEO and chairman hats for the Woodbury, NY, firm.
Braun says that separating the CEO and chairman roles in this way will help Veeco to grow into a company with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion. Yearly sales currently stand at around $440 million.
Much of that increase is expected to arise from the growing market for LED and RFIC chips based on compound semiconductors manufactured using MOCVD or MBE equipment.
Both Veeco and Aixtron have witnessed very strong growth in equipment orders over the past couple of quarters, and Veeco s senior managers view these sectors as being critical to the company s future growth.
In a recent presentation for investors, Veeco said that it expected its epitaxy equipment business to grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 30 per cent over the next four years to reach $175 million by 2009.
Rising demand for high-specification LED chips required for lighting applications, and next-generation reactors needed to make them, will be behind much of that increase.
