Thomas Sonderman was appointed CEO and elected to the board of directors in 2017. Under his leadership, he has driven the company’s transformation from an IDM to a pure play foundry and led its successful IPO in 2021. He has diversified the customer base, improved operational efficiencies and leveraged SkyWater as a U.S.-based semiconductor foundry to expand its government business and reinstate a strong commercial manufacturing presence in the U.S. He has built a world-class leadership team and workforce that is driving innovation and delivering excellence to SkyWater’s customers every day.
Prior to joining SkyWater, Mr. Sonderman’s extensive industry experience included all aspects of fab operations and delivering market leadership and increased shareholder value to high-technology industry leaders Rudolph Technologies (now ONTO Innovation), GLOBALFOUNDRIES and AMD. Notably, he played a critical role serving as part of an executive team at AMD that spun-off manufacturing operations to form GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
Sonderman holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Missouri S&T and an M.S. in electrical engineering from National Technological University. He has 50 patents, is a renowned industry speaker and was inducted into the Academy of Chemical and Biochemical Engineers at Missouri S&T in 2024. Sonderman also received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Missouri S&T and serves as the Commissioner for Semiconductors and Microelectronics at Purdue University’s Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy.