GSA appoints first director representing China

SAN JOSE, USA: The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the voice of the global semiconductor industry, announced the appointment of Dr. Leo Li, chairman, CEO and president of Spreadtrum Communications Inc., to its board of directors. In his new position, Li will represent Asia-Pacific as the first board director based in China. Li also serves on GSA’s Asia-Pacific Leadership Council.

China plays an essential role in the semiconductor industry. According to PricewaterhouseCooper’s latest 2011 update of China's Impact on the Semiconductor Industry, China’s semiconductor market grew 30.4 percent in 2010 to reach $132 billion. This record growth is largely attributed to its IC design segment which has posted positive year-over-year growth for every year of the past decade. It was also the fastest growing segment of China’s semiconductor industry for this decade thanks to leading companies such as Spreadtrum Communications.

Dr. Li is the first China-based executive to be appointed to the GSA board of directors. The board recognized that Li’s leadership skills and expertise is vital to shaping and driving the work of the Alliance in China.

“I am honored to join the Global Semiconductor Alliance as a regional board director, providing input on the issues and trends that characterize the semiconductor industry in China and the greater Asia-Pacific region,” said Dr. Li. “I look forward to collaborating with other semiconductor business leaders to address the global issues facing our industry.”

Dr. Li has more than 23 years of experience in the wireless communications industry, joining Spreadtrum in May 2008. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Li served as the CEO of Magicomm Technology Inc., a cell phone product development company. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Li served as Senior Business Development Director at Broadcom and was responsible for a line of GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA baseband business.

From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Li served as GM of Mobile Phone Product and VP of Mobilink Telecom, a GSM baseband start-up company that was sold to Broadcom in 2002. Prior to 1998, Dr. Li held various senior engineering and program management positions at Rockwell Semiconductors and Ericsson. Dr. Li received 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, Maryland, USA; and an MBA degree from the National University in La Jolla, California, USA.

“Dr. Li is one of the most progressive leaders in China and his involvement will be critical to our future success,” said Jodi Shelton, co-founder and president of GSA. “I feel honored to have Dr. Li’s outstanding participation as our first Chinese representative on the board. His support will lend valuable guidance on a variety of global issues and allow the GSA to expand mutual collaboration between China and the worldwide semiconductor industry.”