May 1, 2012 — The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) appointed China-based Dr. Leo Li, chairman, CEO and president of Spreadtrum Communications Inc., to its Board of Directors. Li also serves on GSA’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Council and is GSA’s first China-based executive to join the Board.
China’s semiconductor market grew 30.4% in 2010 to USD132 billion, GSA notes, citing PricewaterhouseCooper’s 2011 update of China’s Impact on the Semiconductor Industry. China’s IC design segment has posted positive year-over-year growth for every year of the past decade, and was the fastest growing segment of China’s semiconductor industry in the past 10 years. Spreadtrum Communications is a large contributor to this trend, GSA notes.
Another semiconductor industry association, SEMI, established a SEMI China regional office in 2002.
As a regional board director, Li will provide input on the issues and trends that characterize the semiconductor industry in China and the greater Asia-Pacific region, he said. Jodi Shelton, co-founder and president of GSA, called Dr. Li “one of the most progressive leaders in China.”
Dr. Li joined Spreadtrum in May 2008, prior to which he was CEO of Magicomm Technology Inc. (2005-2007), a cell phone product development company. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Li was senior business development director at Broadcom, responsible for a line of GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA baseband business. He came to Broadcom with Mobilink Telecom, a GSM baseband start-up company, where he was GM of mobile phone product and VP from 1998 to 2002. Prior to 1998, Dr. Li held various senior engineering and program management positions at Rockwell Semiconductors and Ericsson.
Dr. Li holds a BS degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China; a MS degree from the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China; a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park, MD; and an MBA degree from the National University in La Jolla, CA.
The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) aims 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. Internet: www.gsaglobal.org.