Contact Information: Contacts: Wilson W. Cheung Chief Financial Officer (510) 683-5900 Leslie Green Green Communications Consulting, LLC (650) 312-9060
AXT, Inc. Announces the Appointment of Morris S. Young, Ph.D. as Chief Executive Officer
| Source: AXT, Inc.
FREMONT, CA--(Marketwire - July 20, 2009) - AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ : AXTI ), a leading
manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates, today announced that the
Board of Directors has appointed Morris S. Young, Ph.D. as chief executive
officer, effective July 16, 2009.
Young co-founded AXT in 1986 and served as its chief executive officer from
1989 to 2004. He has been a director of AXT since 1989 and held the
position of chairman of the Board from 1998 to 2004. From 1985 to 1989,
Young was a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He holds a
B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering from National Cheng Kung
University, Taiwan, a M.S. degree in metallurgy from Syracuse University,
and a Ph.D. in metallurgy from Polytechnic Institute of New York
University.
"We are very pleased to appoint Morris Young as our chief executive
officer," said Jesse Chen, chairman of AXT's Board of Directors. "Morris
has extraordinary technical expertise and a vast amount of knowledge and
experience in compound semiconductors that was unequaled in our extensive
CEO search. While our process yielded several strong candidates, we felt
that Morris was the most qualified to make an immediate positive
contribution to the business, and to effectively carry out AXT's long-term
vision to be the number one advanced semiconductor materials supplier of
choice through high quality, effective cost of ownership and a
customer-focused philosophy. Further, Morris' track record of
ground-breaking technical innovation will be a tremendous asset to AXT as
the needs of our customers become more complex in response to the
increasingly higher performance requirements of next-generation devices."
"We would also like to express our gratitude to Wilson Cheung, AXT's chief
financial officer, for his service as AXT's principal executive officer and
to our senior management team for their dedication and commitment to
ensuring a smooth transition for our customers and employees during our CEO
search," said Chen.
"I am very pleased and excited about the opportunity to once again lead
AXT," said Morris Young, chief executive officer. "I believe that the
company is in an excellent position to emerge from this economic climate
stronger than ever and I look forward to working with AXT's very talented
management team to continue to move forward on our mission. Our broad
product portfolio, expansive manufacturing capability and strategic joint
venture agreements allow us the flexibility to meet our customers'
requirements as the demand environment evolves. Further, our strong
positioning in key strategic markets such as high-end mobile
communications, high-brightness LEDs and photovoltaics allows us healthy
opportunities for future growth."
About AXT, Inc.
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, and fiber optic
communications. 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, particularly in optoelectronics applications. In addition to
our manufacturing facilities in China, we have invested in five joint
ventures producing raw materials. For more information, see AXT's website
at http://www.axt.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
The foregoing paragraphs contain forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Federal Securities laws, including statements regarding our
position as the number one advanced semiconductor materials supplier of
choice, our technical innovation, future growth of our business, and the
positive and lengthy product cycle. These forward-looking statements are
based upon specific assumptions that are subject to uncertainties and
factors relating to the company's operations and business environment,
which could cause actual results of the company to differ materially from
those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements contained in
the foregoing discussion. These uncertainties and factors include but are
not limited to overall conditions in the markets in which the company
competes; global financial conditions and uncertainties; market acceptance
and demand for the company's products; and other factors as set forth in
the company's annual report on Form 10-K and other filings made with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Each of these factors is difficult to
predict and many are beyond the company's control. The company does not
undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement,
as a result of new information or future events.