ROHM Europe Appoints a New President
The Japanese semiconductor company appointed a new president for its European division.
ROHM, a leading player in the semiconductor market, recently appointed Wolfram Harnack to lead its European division as president. Harnack, who was appointed managing director of ROHM Europe last year, plans to oversee the growth of the company’s Silicon Carbide (SiC) and analog device segments, serving the automotive and industrial markets.
Wolfram Harnack (photo courtesy of ROHM Semiconductor)
Former president Toshimitsu Suzuki will now serve as the general manager of ROHM’s European sales division.
Harnack was first appointed managing director of ROHM Semiconductor Europe last October, exiting a five-year role leading Mitsubishi’s European business division since 2015. Prior to that, he served as ROHM’s sales director from 2008 to 2015.
In a statement, Harnack acknowledged ROHM’s leadership in the SiC and analog power markets, as well as the quality of the company’s application support for customers.
“My key aim is to further extend our customer service and accelerate growth in the automotive and industrial segments, especially in the power and analog area,” he added.
The automotive and industrial markets are critical targets in ROHM’s long-term growth strategy, which involves strengthening its product lineups and developing new technologies to meet industry demand.
However, with the automotive market taking a significant hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, ROHM’s net automotive electronics sales showed the largest decline from April to December of last year, compared to its other end-market segments.
Still, according to ROHM’s third-quarter 2021 report, sales in automotive infotainment ICs and other driver ICs have quickly recovered since last fall, following a decline earlier in the year. Sales in advanced driver assistance systems and other products for electric power drive vehicles remained strong from April to December.
Similarly, sales for discrete semiconductor devices slumped in the first half of the year but recovered in the second half. Sales for ROHM’s transistors and diodes—used in industrial equipment—also showed signs of improvement.
