DataProphet Announces Formation of its Semiconductor Advisory Board as Company Continues Global Expansion

30 Aug 2021 | Nicol Ritchie| • Press Releases

August 30, 2021 11:30 AM SAST

AMSTERDAM–Leading AI-for-Manufacturing company, DataProphet, today announces the formation of its Semiconductor Advisory Board. With great pride, the company welcomes the newly formed strategic committee of trusted industry-specific advisors — Susan Wilkerson and Markus Keil. 

In Markus Keil and Susan Wilkerson, DataProphet has teamed with two highly respected, seasoned professionals who are deeply committed to bringing their wealth of semiconductor industry knowledge to help DataProphet achieve its ambitions of integrating its data-driven AI-as-a-Service into all value-adding processes in the semiconductor value chain around the world, including fabs and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). 

Susan Wilkerson and Markus Keil are distinguished additions to DataProphet’s wider Industry Advisory Board. They directly reflect the company’s growth-oriented, go-to-market mindset at a crucial inflection point in its commercial development.

DataProphet’s Semiconductor Advisory Board members bring a proven track record as change agents in semiconductor manufacturing, helping shape and guide the industry through myriad challenges and transformations over years of unprecedented technological and economic transformation. Susan Wilkerson and Markus Keil will work closely with DataProphet’s leadership team to ensure they are best meeting the critical production KPIs of the semiconductor industry as it moves into a new era.

Regarding the announcement, Susan Wilkerson had this to say: “I’m excited to be selected for DataProphet’s Semi Advisory Board, which focuses on utilizing AI and Machine Learning to enable prescriptive operational efficiencies in the Semiconductor industry. The Dataprophet team’s underlying philosophy translates into product offerings committed to making the end customer experience as simple and positive as possible while proving clear customer value at every stage. Their AI-as-a-Service seamlessly inputs environmental variables and proactively models complex integration in the manufacturing process. This will enable chipmakers to address their most significant technical challenges. With DataProphet’s data-driven solutions, fabs will access opportunities to improve operational cost, yield, and time to market faster than ever before.”

Markus Keil contextualized the significance of his inclusion in this way: “Upon meeting the DataProphet team, I became quickly aware of a unique group of excellent talents and leadership backed by high-caliber investors. My sense was: here is a company to make a big difference in the young industry of AI. This is why I’m very honored to have the opportunity to support DataProphet in bringing its AI-for-Manufacturing and Machine Learning (ML) applications into the semiconductor industry. AI and ML are megatrends with the capability to influence many aspects of how we work, design, build and use technology. Furthermore, in my opinion, semiconductors are a logical and natural target industry for DataProphet’s pioneering technology. Fabs are very data-centric environments with some catch-up work to do in using AI. With Dataprophet’s unique innovations, its use of big data prescriptive analytics, along with their very customer-centered approach, I am convinced this company will be successful in bringing its game-changing technology to fabs worldwide.”

In response to the formation of the Advisory Board, DataProphet CEO and co-founder Frans Cronje stated: “I am very excited by today’s announcement of our Advisory Board for the semiconductor industry! The experts who have joined our board will help guide DataProphet as we introduce our state-of-art AI solution to fabs around the world. Susan Wilkerson and Markus Keil will help us navigate the intricacies and challenges that customers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry face. I am looking forward to the results we will achieve together.”

ABOUT DATAPROPHET

DataProphet is a Venture Capital-backed, high-growth AI-for-Manufacturing company pioneering the development and deployment of Deep Learning solutions for manufacturers across key industry verticals worldwide. As heavy industries move towards autonomous manufacturing, its world-leading AI-driven solutions guide clients from over-dependence on human experts to Machine Learning expert guidance. DataProphet’s mission is for its manufacturing process agnostic AI-as-a-Service innovations to continue revolutionizing process optimization in support of the wide range of manufacturing sectors it currently partners with and to extend its partnerships even further. The company helps manufacturers—of semiconductors, automotive equipment, rubber, glass, plastic, gray iron, and minerals—meet and exceed critical KPIs with cutting-edge, human-in-the-loop AI deployments requiring no additional hardware investment. In this way, DataProphet supports adopters of its technology to become more competitive and resource-efficient as they digitally transform. DataProphet AI deployments guarantee ROI in the first year of operation and provide ongoing and complete post-installation support, including additional data sources and full model maintenance. 

ABOUT SUSAN WILKERSON 

Susan Wilkerson joined Veeco in April 2020 as Senior Vice President of Global Customer Operations. Before her employment with Veeco, she served as Vice President & General Manager of Strategic Global Accounts for Lam Research Corporation from 2011 to 2020. She was also previously Vice President & General Manager of Americas Sales & Service for Verigy. Susan Wilkerson was with Applied Materials for over fifteen years, holding positions of increasing responsibility—these included Global Account Management, Vice President & General Manager, and Vice President of Operations for the North America Region. Susan Wilkerson was also engaged in multiple consulting ventures, co-founding BlueRock Consulting LLC in 2008. 

ABOUT MARKUS KEIL

Markus Keil has 25 years of global experience in the technology industry with a strong operational and business focus in Asia, Europe, and the US. Mr. Keil has worked as a CEO, Business Area Manager, and Business Unit COO in highly innovative environments. He also bore Multi-Operations-Site responsibility for ten manufacturing sites in six countries (in Europe, the US, and Asia), and brings solid operational experience along the entire semiconductor manufacturing supply chain—from Equipment Vending, Wafer Manufacturing, Chip-Packaging, Multi-Chip Module Assembly, and Testing with a large inhouse and outsourced footprint. Mr. Keil started up several manufacturing sites (greenfields), transferring technology and building HVM Technology organizations. He has post-M&A integration experience and has led several significant organizational integration and transformation projects in the semiconductor industry. Markus Keil is a hands-on team player and vision builder with a strategic mindset.