The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced The Honorable Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia and current president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, will deliver the keynote address at the 2019 SIA Award Dinner, which will take place on Thursday, Nov. 7 in San Jose, Calif. Rudd will offer insights on the future directions of the U.S.-China trade war, the risks of general economic decoupling, and implications for future collaboration in technology.
“With decades of experience at the highest levels of government, academia, and influential policy centers, Kevin Rudd is a leading authority on China’s domestic political economy, its international relations, and global trade,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “Rising trade tension between the world’s largest economies is putting significant pressure on the global economy, the U.S. economy, and on the semiconductor industry, which relies heavily on supply chains that run through China. Given Mr. Rudd’s unparalleled knowledge of China, the overarching geopolitics at work, and the surrounding global trade and economic issues impacting our industry, we look forward to hearing his perspectives as the keynote presenter at this year’s SIA Award Dinner.”
Rudd served as Australia’s 26th prime minister (2007-2010, 2013) and as foreign minister (2010-2012). He began his career as a China scholar, serving as an Australian diplomat in Beijing before entering Australian politics. As prime minister, he led Australia’s successful response to the global financial crisis and co‑founded the G20 to drive the global response to the crisis. As prime minister and foreign minister, Rudd was active in global and regional foreign policy leadership. He was a driving force in expanding the East Asia Summit to include both the U.S. and Russia in 2010, and launched the long-term concept of transforming the EAS into a wider Asia Pacific Community.
Rudd joined the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) in New York as its inaugural President in January 2015. ASPI is a think- and do- tank dedicated to using track II diplomacy to resolve policy challenges within Asia, and between Asia and the West. Rudd served as a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2014, where he produced a major policy paper titled U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations Under Xi Jinping.
The SIA Award Dinner also will feature the presentation of the semiconductor industry’s highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award, to Dr. Robert H. Dennard, DRAM inventor, scaling pioneer, and IBM fellow emeritus. The Noyce Award is named in honor of semiconductor industry pioneer Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel.