16:10 – 17:10
Panel Session: Electrification Market & WBG Adoption
Moderator
Aly Mashaly
ROHM Semiconductor
Aly Mashaly is a renowned expert in power electronic systems and power semiconductors, with over 20 years of experience in the electronics industry. He holds several patents in the field and is a keynote speaker at numerous international conferences. Aly studied Electrical Engineering with a focus on Power Electronics at Ain Shams University in Cairo. In late 2002, he moved to Germany to pursue his master’s degree at the University of Hanover. He began his career as a pioneer in the early development of power electronic systems for avionic applications and later shifted his focus to advancing power electronics in the electric vehicle market. In his current role as Technical Director at ROHM Semiconductor Europe, Aly has played a key role in driving the company’s vision to establish itself as a global player in the field of power devices.
ROHM Semiconductor
Company Profile
ROHM, a leading semiconductor and electronic component manufacturer, was established in 1958. From the automotive and industrial equipment markets to the consumer and communication sectors, ROHM supplies ICs, discretes, and electronic components featuring superior quality and reliability through a global sales and development network. Our strengths in the analog and power markets allow us to propose optimized solutions for entire systems that combine peripheral components (i.e., transistors, diodes, resistors) with the latest SiC power devices as well as drive ICs that maximize their performance.
Panelist
Maike Mueller, Ph.D.
Volkswagen Group Technology
Dr. Maike Mueller graduated in chemistry from Technical University of Munich and received her doctorate from the Humboldt University of Berlin while working at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing. She started her career in the semiconductor industry as a quality and process engineer at Osram Opto Semiconductors in Regensburg. The past 11 years she has been working in various management roles within Infineon’s automotive and consumer divisions as well as procurement department. Since Oct 2024 she joined VW Group as Head of Semiconductor Strategy & Development of Power modules, Group Powerelectronics.
Volkswagen Group Technology
Company Profile
As group-wide „Powerhouse“ of Volkswagen, the group resort Technology with its business units is responsible for the core transformation-topics “battery”, “charging and energy”, and “components”. It shapes the development and production of strategic components for the car-manufacturing brands of the group and with its “platform business” also for OEMs outside the Volkswagen Group. As an independent company inside the group resort Technology, Volkswagen Group Components employs 70.000 employees in more than 60 factories worldwide. They provide a valuable contribution for the Volkswagen Group, its brands and products. Thomas Schmall is the board member for the group resort Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components.
Panelist
Ralf Bornefeld
Bosch
Ralf Bornefeld is Senior Vice President with responsibility for the business unit Power Semiconductors & Modules at Bosch.
Before he held various management positions at Infineon Technologies AG: senior director technology in frontend production from 2005-2008, senior director engineering of automotive sensors until 2011 and finally vice president and general manager business line automotive sensors.
Ralf started his career at Elmos Semiconductor in 1992 as a technology development engineer. Afterwards he took several management positions until end of 2004, mostly serving as vice president of R&D and eventually as vice president of business line microsystems.
Ralf Bornefeld was born in Schalksmuehle, Germany, in 1964. He graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Technical University of Dortmund in 1992.
Bosch
Company Profile
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 428,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2023). According to preliminary figures, the company generated sales of 91.6 billion euros in 2023. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 90,000 associates in research and development, of which roughly 48,000 are software engineers.
Panelist
Edoardo Merli
Nexperia
Nexperia
Company Profile
Headquartered in the Netherlands, Nexperia is a global semiconductor company with a rich European history and over 15,000 employees across Europe, Asia, and the United States. As a leading expert in the development and production of essential semiconductors, Nexperia’s components enable the basic functionality of virtually every electronic design in the world – from automotive and industrial to mobile and consumer applications.
The company serves a global customer base, shipping more than 100 billion products annually. These products are recognized as benchmarks in efficiency – in process, size, power, and performance. Nexperia’s commitment to innovation, efficiency and stringent industry requirements are evident in its extensive IP portfolio, its expanding product range, and its certification to IATF 16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 standards.
Panelist
Patrick Schwarz, Ph.D.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Patrick Schwarz has studied chemistry in Regensburg, Germany where he completed his PhD in inorganic chemistry. He joined Infineon in 2011 as an engineer for reliability and analytics focusing on chip embedding technologies. 2013 he transferred from RnD to production in the area of process integration and transfer management , where he also took his first management role in 2015 as head of process integration and product engineering for laminate based packages. With the start of Infineons first molded power module Hybridpack DSC he took leadership of the ramp up management for the new platform becoming a specialist for critical new product introductions. After shifting to global productivity platform owner for preassembly within Infineon he joined Huawei as Lab Director for Power Packages in 2024.
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Company Profile
Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have approximately 208,000 employees and we operate in over 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world. We are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.
At Huawei, we have two key drivers of innovation: science and technology, and customer needs. Both commercial value and market demands are driving our innovation and determining how we invest in science and technology. Breakthroughs in technology, in return, stimulate customer needs and allow us to create greater value for customers.
In 2024, our total R&D spending reached CNY179.7 billion, representing 20.8% of our total revenue.
Our total R&D investment over the last decade now exceeds CNY1.249 trillion.
On December 31, 2024, 113,000 employees (about 54.1% of our workforce) worked in R&D.
Through years of sustained innovation in fundamental domains, Huawei has become one of the world’s largest patent holders, currently holding 150,000+.
