The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced Thomas L. Friedman, longtime foreign affairs columnist at The New York Times and bestselling author of The World is Flat, will deliver the keynote address at the 2020 SIA Leadership Forum & Award Celebration, a virtual event taking place on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. EST. Friedman will offer insights on navigating the rising geopolitical frictions between the U.S. and China – the world’s largest economies – and the resulting pressures on the global economy as a whole and the semiconductor industry in particular. SIA represents 95 percent of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.
“With decades of experience as a renowned journalist and author, Tom Friedman is a leading authority on the complex issues at the intersection of foreign policy and technology,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and CEO. “The semiconductor industry is in the crosshairs of escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, with a barrage of tariffs and broad export controls on chip technology disrupting markets and global supply chains. Given Mr. Friedman’s extensive knowledge and experience covering the global affairs and technology issues shaping our world, we look forward to his perspectives as keynote speaker on the road ahead for U.S.-China relations and navigating overall geopolitical turbulence.”
Winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, Friedman has covered the monumental stories from around the globe for The New York Times since 1981. Vanity Fair called him “the country’s best newspaper columnist.” Ranked #2 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “influential business thinkers” and named to the 2011 Thinkers50 and the 2013 list of Foreign Policy‘s Top Global Thinkers, Friedman is considered one of “America’s Best Leaders” by US News & World Report.
In his latest bestseller, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, Friedman offers a blueprint for overcoming the stresses and challenges of a world being transformed by technology, globalization, and climate change. Friedman’s
The World is Flat has sold 4.5 million copies and won the inaugural Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. His other bestsellers include Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism and The Lexus and the Olive Tree, which Kirkus Reviews called “simply the best book written on globalization.”
The 2020 SIA Leadership Forum & Award Celebration also will feature the presentation of the semiconductor industry’s highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award, to Dr. Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD and accomplished leader in advancing semiconductor technology. The Noyce Award is named in honor of semiconductor industry pioneer Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel.