Robin Ng, CEO, ASMPT
Growth often hides in the space between certainty and doubt. It’s where leaders must decide whether to play safe with the known or bet boldly on what lies just beyond the horizon. At ASMPT, that choice rests with Group CEO Robin Ng, a leader whose decisions are shaping the company’s direction and the very cadence of transformation across an industry.
Robin assumed leadership in 2020, at the helm of a company that touched nearly every corner of electronics manufacturing, from semiconductor packaging to SMT and factory automation. But the true weight of the role lay in transforming its scale into future advantage. Having spent years as Group CFO, Robin knew vision alone was never enough. To face the future, he needed a structure that could not just withstand disruption but orchestrate it. His first decisive move was to form an Executive Office, led by Robin, Guenter Lauber, Chief Strategy & Digitalisation Officer, and Katie Xu, Group CFO. Supported by an Executive Committee of senior leaders, this trio (CEO, CSO, CFO) evolved from a traditional hierarchy to a catalyst, breaking down silos and fostering collaboration across Technology, Innovation, Quality, People, Finance, IT, and Communications, with a clear customer and market focus.
With the architecture set, Robin turned to strategy. “Enabling the digital world” became ASMPT’s North Star, cascading into the enabling layers of Innovation, Quality, and People, anchored by ASMPT´s very own POWER values—Passion, Ownership, Win-win, Excellence, and Respect. Guided by this compass, ASMPT has established leadership in Advanced Packaging, deployed over 500 Thermo-Compression Bonding tools worldwide, and unveiled breakthroughs like the SIPLACE CA2 hybrid placement machine, LITHOBOLT hybrid bonding, and Silicon Photonics for Co-Packaged Optics, positioning it squarely at the heart of the AI revolution.
However, Robin’s leadership is defined by ensemble strength. Guenter has driven the implementation of the company´s strategy across ASMPT’s business segments and regional organisations. He has also been the champion for sustainability overall, with ASMPT joining the Semiconductor Climate Consortium as a founding member and advancing the company’s Net Zero 2035 pledge with a 29% carbon cut already achieved. Katie has fortified the financial backbone, driving investments, optimizing costs, and safeguarding a robust net cash position. Together, this constellation reflects Robin’s conviction: transformation is never a solo act but a harmony of teamwork, strategy, sustainability, and financial stewardship.
Leading in a BANI World
In the unforgiving race of technology, standing still is not an option. For Robin, leadership means charting direction with conviction while empowering his team to thrive in what Guenter defines as a BANI world, brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible. In such an environment, resilience becomes the differentiator. Guenter drives this through clarity of vision, disciplined change management, and a culture where leaders walk with their people through discomfort. His focus on collaboration, transparency, and continuous learning ensures ASMPT adapts without losing stride.
Katie strengthens that resilience by anchoring ambition in financial discipline. She translates performance metrics and market signals into insights employees can rally behind, sharpening investments and fortifying a net cash position that lets ASMPT scale without compromise.
Robin believes leadership is never about posturing but about presence. “When decisions are tough, clarity of purpose assures our people there’s meaning behind every move,” he asserts. Together, this leadership team not only responds to disruption, they also anticipate it, ensuring ASMPT remains the benchmark in electronics manufacturing.
The 3Cs Under Fire
Robin defines his leadership style through what he calls the 3Cs philosophy: Consultation, Collaboration, and Open Communication. At heart, he is a listener, deeply aware that his colleagues often know more in their domains than he does. This conviction led to the creation of ASMPT’s Executive Committee, a forum for collective decision-making where he consults closely with Guenter and Katie and the interdisciplinary global leadership team. For Robin, leadership values are non-negotiable: responsibility to the larger whole, authenticity and integrity, courage to voice disagreement, and humility to admit mistakes. These principles live within ASMPT’s POWER values: Passion, Ownership, Win-win attitude, Excellence, and Respect.
The truest test came in May 2020, when Robin assumed the Group CEO role amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Customer orders had collapsed, travel was restricted, and he was leading a new team while assembling others. Relying on his 3Cs and emerging online tools, he preserved connectivity, unity, and consultation, even seeking external guidance. The payoff was clear: resilience in 2020 and renewed strength ahead. As Robin puts it, “The value of people in our organisation is the biggest asset on our balance sheet.” This perspective continues to guide the leadership team’s plans and decisions as it grapples with both promise and peril within an increasingly competitive industry set amidst a more challenging macroeconomic environment.
Anchoring the Future with Purpose and Performance
For Robin, the future is about leading a company and shaping an industry. “People are everything. You can have the best strategy, but without the right people in the right place with the right level of empowerment to execute, strategy amounts to nothing,” he reflects. That conviction underpins ASMPT’s momentum as the world’s leading global supplier of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing solutions, building the machines that power chips in AI, mobile devices, smart homes, cars, and medical technology.
Transformation has already laid a strong foundation, but the next chapter is about scale and execution. Guenter notes, “We have laid out a grand strategy in the right direction for many years to come, and with the right team spirit and commitment, we will flourish.” Katie sharpens the lens on diversity, equity, and inclusion, calling DEI a “strategic advantage” in a $500+ billion semiconductor industry.
The record speaks for itself. ASMPT is clearly the innovation leader in Advanced Packaging and has won the TechInsights Global Semiconductor Supplier Survey for 12 straight years, the Texas Instruments Supplier Excellence Award twice running, and the Assembly Test Equipment Supplier Award for eight consecutive years. In 2024, it was also named among Singapore’s Best Employers, proof that its strength lies as much in people as in technology.
Walking the Talk in a Fast-Moving World
For Robin, true leadership is forged in crisis. When he stepped into the CEO role during COVID-19, he chose to walk the talk, standing with his people, not behind screens. His Three Cs—Collaborate, Consult, Communicate became the compass that steadied ASMPT through uncertainty. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” he reflects, crediting his best lessons to those unafraid to challenge him, and he still continues to be shaped by varied perspectives in the current industry operating environment.
How does this work? Robin urges Asia’s next generation of entrepreneurs to stay curious, humble, and agile in a BANI world, where what worked yesterday may fail tomorrow. But above all, people are everything. He insists culture is not a buzzword but a competitive edge and the legacy leaders leave behind.
That conviction fuels ASMPT’s global momentum, 12 years of TechInsights recognition, back-to-back TI Supplier Excellence Awards, and a Best Employers honor in 2024. As Guenter and Katie affirm, the company’s trajectory proves one truth: when leadership and culture align, the future is unstoppable.