The chief executives of three semiconductor companies have stepped down in the span of one month, in what appears to be a #MeToo-inspired and long-overdue reckoning for the male-dominated industry.
On Tuesday, Texas Instruments Inc. TXN, +1.08%[1] one of the oldest semiconductor companies in the U.S., said that President and Chief Executive Brian Crutcher resigned because he violated the company’s code of conduct[2]. The company did not disclose any further information. In a video broadcast to employees,[3] Chairman Rich Templeton, who is returning as CEO, said the board had received a complaint that he did not describe.
“We are proud of our culture of encouraging people to speak up,” Templeton told employees. “If something is reported that is not aligned with our ethics and values, we respond.” He added that is exactly what TI’s board did when they received “this claim.”
“If you see something wrong, say something,” he added.
See also: In the wake of #MeToo, more U.S. companies reviewed their sexual harassment policies[4]
It appears that people in the semiconductor industry might finally be saying something about the culture at chip companies, as a movement to speak up about male misconduct sweeps across different industries[5]. At the end of June, Rambus Inc. RMBS, +1.58%[6] a designer of memory interface chips, said CEO Ron Black was fired for violating its code of conduct,[7] in an “incident unrelated to the company’s financial or business performance.” The company did not provide any further details and a spokeswoman did not return calls.
Just one week earlier, Intel Corp INTC, -0.50%[8] said that its CEO Brian Krzanich stepped down because of a past inappropriate consensual relationship with another employee[9], which violated Intel’s company policies.
The $412 billion global semiconductor industry is one of the oldest sectors in the tech business — it is what gave Silicon Valley its name, after all — and it is also one of the most male-dominated. Krzanich had even spearheaded a movement inside Intel to make the company less male and less white[10]. In 2017, 73.5% of Intel’s workforce were men and 47.8% of its workers were white, compared with 76% men and 56% white in 2014. While not all chip companies disclose such statistics, Intel might even be more balanced than competitors in a sector long known for being an...