NXP Semiconductors CEO Rick Clemmer is in Austin this week for a weeklong tech conference dubbed "NXP FTF," with the FTF part being a nod to what the conference used to be called: "Freescale Technology Forum."
Netherlands-based NXP bought Austin-based Freescale Semiconductors for nearly $12 billion late last year.
We spent a few minutes with Clemmer on Tuesday after a news conference to ask him about what the impact of this acquisition on its Austin workforce. NXP has a large presence here with about 5,000 employees.
Clemmer: "I don't know the exact number. We'd have to get you the information associated with it. But any time you put two companies together you only need one HR organization, you only need one board of directors, you only need one CEO. So there are definitely reductions that take place associated with that. Our focus has really been how we bring two companies together and have the best company going forward. So if you look at our management team it's kind of mixed. Half from original Freescale and half from original NXP."
"Worldwide. You look at that management team and we're really trying to make sure we have the best management team in place going forward so that we can meet the challenges and be sure we continue to grow faster than the overall semiconductor market itself. Austin will continue to be a very important site for us. We have a lot of our key technologists here. In fact I'm trying to spend between a third and a half of my time near-term in the integration to be in Austin because of how important we believe it is...until we get through the integration and we'll see where we go from there."
"A lot of them have already happened. There are still some that will happen in the future... But everybody has been informed associated with it. They all know and have all clear line of sights. We have been very specific associated with that. There are some of the people that haven't actually been let go at this point in time. Most of the people I've talked to personally, even though they know they are going, are excited about the opportunity to see a great company. And they are OK with moving on to look at other challenges in their life as well. Certainly with the growth in Austin there are always opportunities around the corner."
