Lefever, who was CEO of Advantest America before taking up the role of COO in January of this year, is one of a few international executives of Japanese businesses, which are renowned for their rigidly structured and hierarchical corporate cultures.
Lefever becomes leadership of Advantest amid mounting investor expectations over the potential boost to chip equipment manufacturers from artificial intelligence investments; the company’s shares have gained 44% so far this year.
As stocks adapt, Advantest stated last month that it sees improvement in the semiconductor business and projects the memory tester market to reach between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion this year, up from around $1.1 billion the previous year.
This year, shares of Tokyo Electron (8035.T) have increased by 45%, while shares of Screen Holdings (7735.T), which opens new tabs, have increased by almost 60%.
