AXT Expands Sales Presence in Asia With New Appointment
AXT, a leading manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates, has appointed Liming Zhu, Ph.D. as VP of Sales for the Asia region. Zhu previously served as AXT's VP of quality and quality systems for the company's manufacturing facility in Beijing, China. This appointment represents an expansion of AXT's direct, local sales presence in Asia, marking the increasing strategic importance of this geographic region. "Liming has done a tremendous job for AXT in our quality and quality systems division and his knowledge of our products and our customers makes him a perfect fit to head up our sales efforts in this increasingly important region," said Morris Young, CEO. "There is an abundance of opportunity in Asia and having a direct, local presence underscores our commitment to this region and enhances our ability to respond quickly and effectively to customer needs. We believe this expansion will help drive continued market share growth in Asia and I look forward to working with Liming in his new role." Zhu was appointed vice president of quality and quality systems for AXT early this year after serving as director of quality and quality systems for AXT since 2007. He joined AXT in 2001 and has held various positions including senior process R&D engineer, senior project manager and product reliability manager. Zhu earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the East China Institute of Technology. He also holds a master's degree and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from East China Institute of Technology. He had an extensive research career prior to joining AXT and currently holds five patents. AXT designs, develops, manufactures and distributes high-performance compound and single element semiconductor substrates comprising gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) through its manufacturing facilities in Beijing, China. In addition, AXT maintains its sales, administration and customer service functions at its headquarters in Fremont, California. The company's substrate products are used primarily in lighting display applications, wireless communications, fiber optic communications and solar cell. Its vertical gradient freeze (VGF) technique for manufacturing semiconductor substrates provides significant benefits over other methods and enabled AXT to become a leading manufacturer of such substrates. AXT has manufacturing facilities in China and invests in five joint ventures producing raw materials.
