Diodes Inc. Founder Keh-Shew Lu Given Honorary Doctorate by NCKU for Promoting Common Good of Society
Written by NCKU News Center. Image credit to Lu Wei-Yu.
NCKU’s Honorary Doctorate Conferment Ceremony for the school year 2021 took place on December 28th. This diploma was given by the university President Dr. Huey-Jen Su to Dr. Keh-Shew Lu, Chairman, President, and CEO of Diodes Incorporated, in recognition of his great contributions toward the semiconductor sector worldwide while demonstrating a civic entrepreneurial spirit.
Dr. Keh-Shew Lu received NCKU’s Honorary Doctorate
President Dr. Su praised Keh-Shew Lu for promoting the comprehensive development of engineering and effective management in the United States and Taiwan. Lu has not only served as an example for successors to emulate but has also created a new prospect for engineering. His efforts in cultivating meaningful connections between alumni of different generations are also worthy of admiration and appreciation.
Keh-Shew Lu earned a bachelor’s degree from National Cheng Kung University in electrical engineering in 1969 and was honored with the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2008. Now, Dr. Lu has been conferred upon with an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, to which he gave a gracious and modest award acceptance speech, saying “I am humbled, flattered, and very pleased to be recognized by my alma mater.”
The Honorary Doctorate Conferment Ceremony was held in the Ge-Chi Hall on December 28th. President Dr. Su pointed out that the Ge-Chi Hall serves as the epitome of NCKU’s contribution to higher education in engineering over the last 90 years. Dr. Lu recalled the weekly tests of a few important courses at the Ge-Chi Hall when he studied at NCKU from 1965. “This is what we call the spirit of NCKU. Small steps are taken to achieve big goals. Students at NCKU study hard and create a hard-working culture together.”
Dr. Lu encouraged underclassmen to adhere to NCKU’s down-to-earth spirit and promote the common good of society
When Keh-Shew Lu reminisced about some charismatic professors, including Chung-Chuang Wei and Tien-Fu Wu, during his studies in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, many alumni smiled as they could relate to many things that he was talking about. Dr. Lu shared how he has benefited from the down-to-earth spirit of NCKU, which taught him to be a diligent and hardworking individual. He started as a junior engineer at Texas Instruments and was then promoted to be a senior manager. Years later, he led Diodes Incorporated from a company with a market value of TWD10 billion to a market value of more than TWD140 billion. He humbly credited his success to his alma mater at NCKU, which taught him to be down-to-earth and realistic regardless of what challenges would come along the way. Dr. Lu encouraged underclassmen to adhere to NCKU’s down-to-earth spirit and promote the common good of society no matter whether they choose to pursue a career in academia or industry.
Diodes Incorporated, a publicly listed company, is an integrated device manufacturer that designs, manufactures, package tests, and sells IC components to consumer electronics companies, industrial controls companies, and car manufacturers worldwide. Nicknamed as “Dr. Lu,” Keh-Shew Lu has held many different senior management positions while serving as a partner of a venture fund. Since 2001, he has served on Diodes’ board of directors. In June 2005, he was appointed as the President and CEO of the company. When he was elected as Chairman of the company in May 2020, he decided to create a new corporate motto: “Integrity, Commitment, and Innovation”, which demonstrates the spirit of NCKU. Keh-Shew Lu grew up in Tainan, Taiwan, and then went to the United States where he pursued a very successful career. He intends to build an integrated device manufacturer led by Chinese and has been dedicated to achieving new breakthroughs in diode technology and elevating Diodes Incorporated to be a key player in the global semiconductor industry.
As a highly acclaimed figure, Keh-Shew Lu has remained an active player in the semiconductor industry for the past 45 years. When he studied at NCKU, he showed great enthusiasm for the Automatic Control course and also published two research papers in IEEE journals when he was an undergraduate student. He then went to the United States to pursue advanced studies and earned his master’s and PhD degrees in electrical engineering at Texas Tech University.
Lu currently serves as an honorary director of the NCKU Alumni Association of North America
He started his employment in Texas Instruments in 1974. He was named as President of Texas Instruments’ operations in Asia in 1994, Senior Vice President responsible for IC products in 1996, and then Senior Vice President responsible for the design, development, manufacture, and operations of mixed-signal integrated circuits in 1998. By holding titles of senior vice president in Texas Instruments, Keh-Shew Lu has followed in Morris Chang’s footsteps as the second Asian to have broken the glass ceiling of an American firm. Lu is also the founding Chairman of Dallas Ft. Worth Asian-American Citizens Council, staying committed to assisting the political, social, and civic affairs of Chinese immigrants in the United States.
Keh-Shew Lu once remarked that the semiconductor manufacturing process is so complicated that it involves the fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematical logic, precision machinery, and materials science, and he is deeply indebted to NCKU for providing this knowledge in its interdisciplinary curriculum. When he was given the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2008, Lu openly shared that he prefers to hire NCKU graduates when his company is recruiting talent. He also offers private and corporate scholarships to NCKU students. Lu currently serves as an honorary director of the NCKU Alumni Association of North America. He has also helped set up the NCKU Alumni Association of Electrical Engineering and the NCKU Alumni Association of Texas to connect NCKU alumni locally and abroad.
With the robust demand for semiconductor talent, many international companies have started to present the largest ever talent recruitment plan in recent years. In response to this rising trend, NCKU has set up the Academy of Innovative Semiconductor and Sustainable Manufacturing, which is equipped with abundant resources and a great number of affiliated partners in the industry and academia as well as net-zero emissions technology in the hope of developing top talent, laying out strategic plans, and continuing to write more glorious chapters of Taiwan’s semiconductor sector in the years to come.
Provider:
News Center
Date:
2022-01-22
