Thomas Lueftner

CEO Bridgecom Semiconductors

Austria

About

Engineering Leader, Business Developer and General Manager with technical depth, business mindset and global thinking. Over 20 years of global experience in wireless semiconductors and deep tech industry with proven track-record in organization & strategy development, business development, research & innovation management, product line management, large scale program management, system engineering, SoC design, embedded SW development, system integration and verification, customer acquisition, global customer engineering support and technical account management. Strong proficiency in enterprise processes for finance & budgeting, sales & marketing, communications, people management (HR), quality management, procurement, and legal. Experienced in leading large multinational engineering teams in Europe, India, East Asia and North America. Energized by working with global customers and partners in launching innovative products and technologies to the market. Participated at the forefront of the smartphone revolution in various global leadership positions at Infineon and Intel. Substantially contributed to the delivery of hundreds of millions of 2G, 3G and 4G (LTE) cellular modem platforms into the market worldwide. Co-led the buildup of Intel's Silicon Valley Automated Driving Innovation Center in San Jose (USA) that was chartered to demonstrate Intel’s car, connectivity and cloud end-to-end solutions. Contributed as CTO and Research Division Head to the foundation and buildup of Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) that is chartered to become a top European research center for electronic based systems and edge computing. Accomplished a HC ramp-up from zero to more than 250 with highly diverse research talents from all over the world. Now committed building the tech startup Bridgecom Semiconductors and excited to help young talents growing wonderful careers in the semiconductor industry.

Experience

  • CEO at Bridgecom Semiconductors
    Sep 2022 - Present · 3 yrs 10 mos

  • CTO and Research Division Head at Silicon Austria Labs (SAL)
    Nov 2017 - Jan 2022 · 4 yrs 3 mos

    Member of the executive management team of Silicon Austria Labs (SAL) with procuration (Prokura). As CTO responsible for the overall research strategy of SAL and as Research Division Head responsible for the ramp-up of the RF Systems and Embedded Systems Divisions. Silicon Austria Labs is chartered to become a Top European Research Center for Electronic Based Systems with world-class IP and know-how in the fields of Sensor Systems, RF Systems, Power Electronics, Integration Technologies and Embedded Systems. Target applications reach from Industrial IOT and autonomous vehicles to smart devices, smart grid and smart healthcare.

  • Intel Corporation (6 yrs 6 mos)
    • Senior Director of Engineering at Silicon Valley Automated Driving Innovation Center
      Jan 2017 - Jul 2017 · 7 mos

      Co-lead for foundation of Intel's Silicon Valley Automated Driving Innovation Center in San Jose (USA) that is chartered to work with customers and partners on innovation projects based on Intel’s automated driving solutions from car to connectivity to cloud. Innovation Center successfully opened in May’17 with an Autonomous Driving workshop demonstrating deep learning platforms for automated driving, V2X use cases with 4G and 5G, AR/VR use cases and more from our partners BMW, Ericsson, Delphi and HERE.

    • Senior Director and GM of Wireless Communications Customer Engineering
      Jul 2014 - Dec 2016 · 2 yrs 6 mos

      General management of Intel’s global wireless customer support organization with full personnel and budget responsibility. Operation in close alignment with business units, local sales teams, core R&D engineering and top-management. Sizeable team of up to 600 engineers with primary sites in China, Taiwan, Korea, India, Germany, and USA. Functional responsibility for: - Global technical account management of Tier1 smartphone/tablet OEMs, China Tech Ecosystem partners, M2M module vendors and PC OEMs - Technical account management for key network operators with focus on module and device certifications - Technical customer acquisition and modem design-in support - First level customer engineering support with SW/HW issue analysis and triage, SW release, certification and field test support Successfully supported numerous product launches world-wide: - Smartphones and tablets (including high-volume Tier1 flagship models) with three generations of Intel’s high-end LTE modem. - Tablets, laptops and 2in1 PCs with two generations of WWAN modules based Intel’s high-end LTE modems. - M2M modules based on Intel’s first generation of LTE Cat.4 and Cat.1 modem. - Android smartphone and tablets in the China Tech Ecosystem based on Intel’s low-cost 3G SoC platform.

    • Senior Director of LTE Product Line Management
      Mar 2012 - Jun 2014 · 2 yrs 4 mos

      Product Line Management of Intel’s first generation LTE modem (Cat.4) with full program execution responsibility for the platform development in tight collaboration with Korean Tier 1 lead-customer. In charge of product feature definition, network operator certifications plans and customer engagement strategy in close alignment with product marketing, system engineering, R&D and top-management. Successful cross-functional program management and leadership of the development teams with 1000+ engineers located in multiple sites in Europe, Asia, US and Africa. Top-level milestone planning and tracking with regular progress reporting into top-management. Accomplished market introduction and product launch of Intel’s first LTE modem with lead-customer followed by successful scaling into multiple other customer designs. Recognized by the Intel Sales Award for the successful customer design-in of the LTE modem along with an IA Atom application processor.

  • Infineon Technologies (10 yrs 4 mos)
    • Senior Customer Program Manager for 2G/3G Modems
      Jan 2007 - Jan 2011 · 4 yrs 1 mo

      Customer Program Manager for Samsung Mobile establishing world-wide modem support structure from scratch. Achieved business break-through with successful product launch of Samsung’s first Android high-volume smartphone Samsung Galaxy S with Infineon’s HSPA modem.

    • System Architect for Application Enhanced 2G/3G Modems
      Oct 2000 - Dec 2006 · 6 yrs 3 mos

      System Architect for application enhanced 2G/3G modems with various technical leadership roles. Participated in Infineon Junior Circle 2003 for high-potentials.

  • Lecturer at University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
    Mar 2002 - Jun 2003 · 1 yr 4 mos

    Taught a class in applied engineering project management.