Kingsley Gate Recruits Ambiq Micro CEO

Executive search firmKingsley Gate Partners has placed Fumihide (Humi) Esaka as chief executive officer of Ambiq Micro, a provider of ultra-low power semiconductor solutions. He takes over from Mike Noonen who had been serving as interim CEO.

Mr. Esaka has 20 years of senior management experience in the semiconductor industry and held CEO roles in his last two companies, Nihon Inter Electronics Corp. and most recently power conversion specialist Transphorm Inc. He joined International Rectifier as a vice president in 1995, where he worked for 12 years. He also spent six years as a manager at consultancy firm Accenture.

“Humi brings a wealth of international semiconductor industry experience to Ambiq,” said Scott Hanson, co-founder and chief technology officer of Ambiq Micro. “He has a deep understanding of power efficiency issues and of their importance to our customers, particularly those that design and manufacture battery-powered devices. This experience is going to be invaluable as we develop Ambiq to be a world leader in ultra-low power semiconductor technology.”

“This is a most exciting time to be joining Ambiq Micro,” said Mr. Esaka. “The company has started full production of the world’s lowest power microcontroller and it’s already winning designs in leading consumer wearables and other IoT applications. Ambiq’s subthreshold technology is redefining low power in these applications and I look forward to being part of the great team that is driving this transformation in our industry.”