# The Memory Pioneer: Sanjay Mehrotra on SanDisk, Micron, and the AI Infrastructure Boom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4G69FwttOw

[00:00] Today's conversation on A Bit Personal
[00:02] with Jodi feels especially timely.
[00:04] We're living in a moment where
[00:06] technologies we depend on, from AI to
[00:08] the devices in our hands, are all
[00:10] powered by something most of us rarely
[00:12] think about, memory. And right now,
[00:15] memory is not just essential, it's
[00:18] incredibly high demand and short supply.
[00:21] Which makes today's guest someone
[00:23] uniquely important. Sanjay Mehrotra is
[00:25] the CEO of Micron Technology, one of the
[00:28] world's leading memory and storage
[00:30] companies, helping to power everything
[00:31] from cloud computing to artificial
[00:33] intelligence. He's spent decades at the
[00:36] center of this space, co-founding
[00:37] SanDisk and playing a pivotal role in
[00:40] shaping the flash memory revolution.
[00:42] But beyond the scale of what he leads,
[00:44] what I find compelling is how someone
[00:46] navigates that kind of responsibility,
[00:48] especially at a moment when the world is
[00:50] quite literally relying on the decisions
[00:52] he makes.
[00:54] In this conversation, we talked to
[00:56] Sanjay about his journey, the
[00:58] discipline, the long-term thinking
[01:00] required to lead in a cyclical and
[01:02] high-stakes industry, and what it means
[01:04] to stay grounded while operating at the
[01:06] center of global demand. Because this
[01:09] isn't just a conversation about
[01:11] technology, it's about leadership under
[01:13] pressure, and the people shaping what
[01:15] comes next. So, let's get to it.
[01:24] Sanjay, welcome to A Bit Personal.
[01:26] Yes, great to be here with you.
[01:28] Yeah, I'm so
[01:29] to it.
[01:29] Thank you. I'm very honored to be in
[01:31] your home, this beautiful home, and in
[01:34] your office.
[01:35] There's lots of stories back here.
[01:37] Do you have any favorite books on your
[01:39] bookshelf back here?
[01:41] Well, actually quite a few, you know,
[01:43] definitely quite a few. And, you know,
[01:45] we love to collect books when we visit
[01:48] places, so many of them are related to
[01:50] that, too. You know, there's a book on
[01:52] Gita, you know, that's like Hindu's holy
[01:56] scriptures. I think that's once in a
[01:58] while, you know, fun to look at some of
[01:59] the pages there, too.
[02:00] Nice. Nice. Well, I have to say that,
[02:04] you know, we were going to do this
[02:05] interview a few weeks ago.
[02:08] And I got trumped by Trump.
[02:10] Okay, so you got invited to be part of
[02:12] the White House delegation to China.
[02:15] So, tell us a little bit what that was
[02:17] like. What was it like to get the phone
[02:18] call? And then what was it like to take
[02:19] the trip?
[02:20] Well, it was definitely quite an honor
[02:22] and privilege to represent Micron. And
[02:26] definitely it was fun. It was exciting
[02:28] and quite an experience. Um, you know,
[02:31] took part in uh President Trump engaging
[02:34] with the CEOs on that morning that he
[02:37] was welcomed in Washington, D.C.
[02:40] And the CEOs that were there were also
[02:42] actually privileged to actually welcome
[02:45] see see him welcomed
[02:47] uh by President Xi. That was an exciting
[02:49] ceremony to watch.
[02:51] And um you know, we uh took part in some
[02:54] of the
[02:55] uh bilateral dialogue. President Trump
[02:57] introduced the CEOs uh in the bilateral
[02:59] dialogue as well as the banquet at at
[03:02] night. So, it was overall um great to
[03:05] see U.S. and China coming together and,
[03:10] you know, building a relationship toward
[03:12] greater stability and that will be good
[03:15] for everybody.
[03:16] Talking is good.
[03:18] Even if there's not, you know, hard and
[03:20] fast measures, I think that talking is
[03:22] good. And so, who do you hope comes out
[03:23] of it?
[03:24] Well, I mean, you know, as a business
[03:26] leader, definitely always looking for
[03:28] that environment, you know, that fosters
[03:30] innovation, you know, provides a
[03:32] platform for innovation benefit to all
[03:35] the businesses. And of course, stability
[03:36] and predictability and certainty around
[03:39] investments, as well.
[03:41] And did you go on Air Force One?
[03:42] No, I did not.
[03:43] Okay, I was going to ask if you took any
[03:44] goodies.
[03:45] [laughter]
[03:46] So, I've been looking forward to this
[03:48] conversation so much because you and
[03:51] Micron and memory are at the center of
[03:54] our world right now. Certainly, any
[03:56] conversation that happens about AI
[03:59] includes a discussion about capacity,
[04:01] memory, and energy.
[04:03] So, it's uh
[04:04] you're you're more important than ever.
[04:06] So, tell me how this moment feels for
[04:08] you.
[04:10] You know, this uh I've been in this
[04:11] industry now for 45-plus years,
[04:15] and this is the most exciting time uh
[04:18] for our industry.
[04:20] And uh I truly believe that that the
[04:22] best is yet to come.
[04:23] Mhm.
[04:24] Uh memory becoming such a key enabler uh
[04:28] for AI because, you know, today memory
[04:30] is not just about a component in devices
[04:34] like smartphones or PCs. Today, memory
[04:37] is absolutely enabling intelligence in
[04:40] artificial intelligence. Right? It's
[04:42] helping improve the intelligence. So,
[04:45] the opportunities for memory are
[04:46] tremendous, and of course, it's a very
[04:48] exciting time. And very proud of
[04:52] Micron's team as really the only US
[04:54] company that is in semiconductor memory
[04:57] manufacturing, uh really proud of the
[05:00] team that has worked hard over the
[05:01] decades, and so committed to
[05:04] advancements in memory technology
[05:06] roadmap, product roadmap to get to this
[05:09] point uh where memory has become
[05:11] absolutely center of the AI revolution.
[05:15] You know, I I always considered Micron
[05:18] as a national treasure.
[05:19] Mhm.
[05:20] And I think, you know, the world is
[05:22] seeing
[05:23] uh
[05:23] what a great national treasure Micron
[05:26] is, particularly in the midst of this AI
[05:28] revolution.
[05:29] Right. You know,
[05:31] every decision that you're making right
[05:33] now has ripple effects throughout the
[05:34] entire industry,
[05:36] and really even the global economy.
[05:39] So, how do you handle that kind of
[05:40] pressure? I mean, do you have some sort
[05:43] of habit or ritual or mantra that you do
[05:46] on a daily basis that keeps you grounded
[05:48] and sane?
[05:50] You know, I think it's all about the
[05:51] team and really has been wonderful to
[05:54] have worked with very many of these team
[05:56] members for a very long time. Um
[05:59] certainly, you know, as I said, Micron
[06:01] national treasure, so very many strong
[06:03] leaders. When I joined Micron, I
[06:06] inherited them as part of my team. Uh
[06:08] but other leaders as well that I've
[06:10] worked for very long time in the
[06:12] industry in my prior years at SanDisk.
[06:15] Combining the team together and that
[06:17] team that I truly consider among the
[06:19] very best in the semiconductor industry
[06:22] and having all the experience of being
[06:25] in our semiconductor industry for so
[06:27] long, I mean that really is the best
[06:30] asset that I personally have that helps
[06:32] me
[06:33] uh manage through um you know, all the
[06:36] opportunities and of course from time to
[06:38] time challenges in our industry and and
[06:40] in our business.
[06:41] So in then, you know, being in your
[06:43] home, I met your beautiful wife a few
[06:45] moments ago.
[06:47] It's very calm here.
[06:49] So that has to be part of it that when
[06:51] you come from a calm household that
[06:53] maybe you know, you don't feel the
[06:55] pressure quite as much.
[06:56] Absolutely correct. I think the
[06:59] support that the family provides is
[07:02] critically important and you know,
[07:03] absolutely um my wife is really a pillar
[07:07] of strength and calmness and composure
[07:10] and um you know, in memory industry,
[07:13] semiconductor industry, you know, has
[07:15] gone through lots of ups and downs. So
[07:17] having that support system at home
[07:18] absolutely is a big advantage, big plus,
[07:21] no question about it.
[07:23] Okay, so let's talk a little bit about
[07:24] those cycles. So you've been in the
[07:25] industry a long time. You've seen dozens
[07:28] of cycles. I mean, it is the nature of
[07:30] the semiconductor industry to be
[07:32] cyclical.
[07:34] So within the semiconductor in
[07:37] industry, memory is the most volatile
[07:39] and no pun intended.
[07:41] I bet you've heard that before.
[07:43] But today it's I mean it's always either
[07:45] feast or famine for you guys and today
[07:47] it's feast. I mean, you know,
[07:49] congratulations on joining the
[07:51] trillion-dollar club. You have tons of
[07:53] cash on hand. I mean, your stock price
[07:56] the valuation of the company is doubled
[07:58] in 48 days. I mean, it's pretty
[07:59] incredible
[08:00] to to watch this ride.
[08:03] Is this just another cycle at a
[08:05] different scale or does AI have the
[08:09] ability to change the nature of our
[08:11] industry?
[08:13] Absolutely. I think, you know, without
[08:14] semiconductors there's no AI and
[08:18] memory is very much the backbone, a key
[08:21] enabler. And, you know, when you as I
[08:23] mentioned earlier,
[08:25] as
[08:28] models get larger, as inference
[08:30] continues to grow, you go from training
[08:33] to inference, you go from data center to
[08:35] edge, you just need more and more
[08:38] memory. More memory,
[08:41] more capacity, higher performance, lower
[08:44] power. These are all essential to
[08:47] realize the improvements in intelligence
[08:50] from one generation from one model to
[08:52] the next, from one inference application
[08:55] to the next. And now agentic AI, right?
[08:58] I think with agentic AI orchestration of
[09:00] AI, this has led to tremendous increase
[09:05] in demand for memory whether it is in a
[09:07] GPU platform or a TPU platform or it's
[09:10] an ASIC. It you know, you need more and
[09:12] more memory. And so you have to look at
[09:15] the demand side that memory is a key
[09:18] enabler of intelligence in artificial
[09:21] intelligence.
[09:22] Intelligence is all about data. Data is
[09:25] all about memory. And when you look at
[09:27] token economics, I mean, that definitely
[09:30] relies on memory. And as the token usage
[09:34] grows with greater context windows,
[09:37] greater key value caching, and of course
[09:40] larger and larger models, it just
[09:43] requires not just compute, but it
[09:46] requires ability to remember, ability
[09:49] ability to have more memory, higher
[09:51] performance memory as well. So from a
[09:54] demand point of view, this is all still
[09:56] in very very early innings. We see that
[09:59] AI has long legs here.
[10:01] The other side is supply, Jody, that is
[10:03] very important to understand the full
[10:05] dynamics here, right?
[10:07] On the supply side,
[10:09] as is well known, supply is extremely
[10:11] short, and this is
[10:14] versus demand, and this is because
[10:17] just high bandwidth memory, you know,
[10:19] high performance memory, which is not
[10:23] feature products like LP6,
[10:26] DRAM, all of them which are critical
[10:28] part of data center, as well as various
[10:31] edge devices, they all just required a
[10:35] lot of wafers, because they as they get
[10:37] to higher performance, they
[10:39] they they are becoming bigger in die
[10:41] sizes, requiring more and more wafers.
[10:45] And all of this needs tremendous green
[10:47] field capacity. Construction of those
[10:49] fabs takes a long time. Equipping those
[10:52] fabs, qualifying the lines, bringing up
[10:54] the supply, which comes up in a gradual
[10:56] fashion, takes a long time, too. So you
[10:58] really have to look at both the demand
[11:00] side and the supply side, and
[11:04] the fundamentals have just changed for
[11:06] our industry in in both of those
[11:08] regards.
[11:09] So but once the supply chain once the
[11:11] supply side catches up and there's an
[11:13] equilibrium, usually then it begins to
[11:15] tilt. Like there's too much I mean, do
[11:17] you see that in the next 5 years or just
[11:20] I mean because it seems that if there if
[11:22] this is a cycle,
[11:24] and we're on the
[11:25] the way up right now, seems like the
[11:27] correction could be brutal.
[11:29] So what I would tell you is again that
[11:31] this is early days of AI and
[11:34] more and more memory is going to be
[11:36] needed as AI as intelligence as agentic
[11:40] AI advances. On the other hand, supply
[11:44] is way short of demand. I cannot project
[11:47] when supply catches up with demand. We
[11:51] see supply being tight in the industry
[11:54] well beyond 2026 time frame. And again,
[11:58] you have to just look at the
[12:00] fundamentals. How does supply come up?
[12:02] Supply comes up through greenfield fabs.
[12:05] These fabs from shovel in the ground to
[12:07] getting first wafers out takes like 3
[12:10] years, 4 years kind of time frame. And
[12:12] then you have to ramp up production as
[12:14] well. And of course, you know, that ramp
[12:16] up of production will always be done in
[12:18] line with the latest demand assessments
[12:21] as well. And other thing to point out is
[12:23] that technology is getting more and more
[12:26] difficult. That means each successive
[12:30] generation of technology is giving you
[12:32] less productivity in terms of gigabits
[12:35] gain that you have. All of this
[12:37] combination
[12:39] really bodes for demand and supply
[12:42] fundamental to stay healthy in the
[12:44] foreseeable future.
[12:45] Okay.
[12:46] When was it that you first realized that
[12:48] AI wasn't going to be one of these
[12:49] typical technology transitions?
[12:52] Um you know, certainly for 2022, you
[12:56] know, with chat GPT, I mean that
[12:59] absolutely changed the world and you
[13:01] know, drove a tremendous
[13:03] inflection point in the demand
[13:05] environment. But even back in 2020 time
[13:08] frame, you know, we were absolutely when
[13:10] it was known that AI is starting to
[13:13] build momentum. We had frankly begun to
[13:15] talk about, you know, how memory is
[13:18] going to be at the heart of enabling AI.
[13:22] And even in 21 time frame, Micron was
[13:25] talking about that increases in supply
[13:28] will be needed because we could see that
[13:31] products like high bandwidth memory and
[13:33] their planned roadmap needed more and
[13:37] more silicon and high bandwidth memory
[13:40] back then was you know barely you know
[13:43] less than a single digit percent of 1%
[13:46] of the memory industry. So we could see
[13:48] that future generations of high
[13:50] bandwidth memory are going to require a
[13:52] lot of silicon and high bandwidth memory
[13:55] had a tremendous growth.
[13:56] Um and its impact on the supply dynamic
[14:00] and that's why we said green fields have
[14:01] to be built back even in 2021 time
[14:04] frame.
[14:06] Um but there is no doubt that nobody
[14:08] nobody projected that AI will take off
[14:12] at this rapid pace of advancement and
[14:15] you know whether it is
[14:17] um
[14:18] logic silicon or memory silicon nobody
[14:21] predicted that uh
[14:24] the need would grow this fast.
[14:25] Right. And so when was it I mean I was
[14:28] in China in October of last year and
[14:31] that was really the first time that I
[14:33] sort of heard grumblings of that there
[14:35] is going to be a major memory shortage.
[14:37] Um and I think it was CXMT was talking
[14:40] about that they were sold out for the
[14:41] next 2 years. It was the first time that
[14:42] I mean little bit of grumblings before
[14:44] that. When was it for you guys that you
[14:47] said okay we're in for a major um
[14:50] capacity crunch?
[14:51] I I think it was even in our December
[14:53] 2023 earnings call we had talked about
[14:56] that leading edge memory supply is going
[14:59] to start becoming tighter in 2024
[15:03] certainly 2025. We saw that memory
[15:05] supply tightness only was growing and it
[15:08] was growing not just tightness for
[15:11] leading edge memory growing but even you
[15:14] know some of the long life cycle
[15:15] products such as DDR4 memory that go
[15:19] into applications like automotive
[15:21] industrial networking so across the
[15:23] board. So, we you know, began to see
[15:26] some of these trends develop and we
[15:28] began to speak to it in late '23 and '24
[15:33] time frame.
[15:33] Okay.
[15:35] So, people
[15:35] Yeah, but and you know, as I said
[15:37] earlier, we began to plan our
[15:39] investments
[15:41] um even in '21, '22 time frame, but of
[15:43] course, 2023
[15:45] was a brutal year for the semiconductor
[15:47] industry and that's when some of the
[15:49] investments in new capacity were slowed
[15:52] down as well.
[15:53] Okay.
[15:54] So, we talk a lot about in our industry
[15:56] a lot about technology, a lot about
[15:58] innovation and not so much sort of about
[16:00] the responsibility of the technologies
[16:03] that we're enabling.
[16:05] So, how do you feel about Micron and
[16:08] Sanjay's responsibility to the world
[16:10] about AI? And and maybe even address,
[16:13] you know,
[16:14] you've heard a few
[16:16] sort of a a little bit of a backlash
[16:19] lately about AI. You heard some of these
[16:21] graduation speakers get booed off stage
[16:24] when they mentioned AI in their
[16:25] commencement addresses. So, I mean,
[16:27] there there seems to be some grumblings.
[16:29] And you know, how as a person, as a
[16:32] human being, do you worry about AI? How
[16:34] do how do you I mean, do you worry about
[16:36] it? Do you think it it's
[16:38] um something that
[16:39] we should all be concerned about or it's
[16:41] just it's just something that's going to
[16:43] happen?
[16:43] You know, I know that you know, there
[16:45] are obviously
[16:47] uh concerns regarding jobs, you know, in
[16:49] getting impacted with the AI. But I
[16:51] think the part that we all have to be
[16:53] really excited about and optimistic
[16:55] about is the innovation that AI enables,
[16:58] right? I mean, many of the problems that
[17:01] have been unsolved forever, you know,
[17:03] have opportunity to get solved and you
[17:05] know that when innovation happens, that
[17:08] creates tremendous new opportunity as
[17:10] well. And then when you also look at
[17:13] demographics, particularly in the
[17:15] developed countries, right? Um you know,
[17:18] that demographics, you know, populations
[17:20] are aging in the developed countries.
[17:23] So, productivity that AI provides, I
[17:25] believe, will absolutely be essential
[17:27] for the GDP growth rates to continue in
[17:30] the developed countries as well. And in
[17:32] terms of our responsibility, look, we
[17:34] have tremendous responsibility to our
[17:37] customers and of course to the team
[17:38] members at Micron as well. Over the
[17:40] course of last
[17:42] several years, we have been absolutely
[17:44] focused on driving a transformation at
[17:47] Micron itself in terms of making Micron
[17:50] a clear technology and product leader in
[17:54] memory and storage. I'm very pleased
[17:56] that through the hard work of our tens
[17:58] of thousands of team members, Micron has
[18:01] positioned itself today with the most
[18:03] comprehensive technology and product
[18:05] portfolio today. So, yes, I mean, that
[18:07] has been a big responsibility. And
[18:09] again, it's the team that enables it,
[18:12] that makes it happen, and I'm very proud
[18:14] of that team. In terms of responsibility
[18:17] to our customers, you know, who are of
[18:19] course planning on continuing to invest,
[18:23] you know, CapEx reaching trillion
[18:25] dollars, you know, in the
[18:28] you know, coming
[18:30] you know,
[18:31] few quarters, right?
[18:33] You know, that is of course a big
[18:35] responsibility to ensure that we
[18:38] continue to support their advances in AI
[18:41] because AI means revenue growth
[18:44] opportunities for them. It means
[18:46] innovation opportunities for our
[18:48] customers. So, yes, there the
[18:50] responsibility to continue to bring
[18:52] advanced technology products and supply
[18:55] that meets the requirements. This is a
[18:56] big responsibility and all our team is
[18:59] working very hard towards that.
[19:00] Okay.
[19:01] Yeah, I was this morning Erin Brockovich
[19:04] was on one of the morning shows talking
[19:06] about that communities aren't getting a
[19:08] say in these data centers that are being
[19:10] put in their communities. And you know,
[19:12] that their people are seeing their
[19:13] energy costs go up. You have water
[19:16] issues and problems. So, I'm just
[19:17] wondering if there is going to be sort
[19:19] of this backlash or pushback on AI.
[19:23] You know, of course, you know, the
[19:24] societal issues of course have to be
[19:26] always considered and you know, it has
[19:28] to provide benefit
[19:30] you know, for the communities and for
[19:33] the broader populations. And I do
[19:35] believe that, you know, with advances
[19:38] that will come with AI, many of them
[19:41] that we may not even be able to imagine
[19:42] today and then the opportunities that
[19:45] will it will eventually create,
[19:47] I think that will be, you know,
[19:49] ultimately good for the community. Of
[19:51] course, it does mean that yes, jobs will
[19:54] change, new jobs will get created, some
[19:59] eliminated and that's why it's really,
[20:00] really important to embrace AI and
[20:03] leverage it,
[20:05] you know, to realize your own individual
[20:08] highest potential.
[20:10] Right. Right. So, as you know, this
[20:12] podcast is called A Bit Personal. So,
[20:14] it's it's the opportunity to tell the
[20:17] personal story behind the public
[20:18] success. So, I want to talk about who
[20:21] Sanjay Mehrotra is and I want to go back
[20:24] to your childhood. I want to go back
[20:25] before Micron or SanDisk or Berkeley or
[20:28] even the US.
[20:29] And
[20:31] help us to understand what childhood was
[20:33] like in the Mehrotra family and the in
[20:35] your household and how
[20:37] maybe some of the ways that you were
[20:39] raised impacted who you eventually
[20:41] became.
[20:42] So, came from humble beginnings, came
[20:45] from a middle-class family in India. You
[20:47] know, I grew up in a home
[20:50] that didn't have a television, that
[20:51] didn't have a phone.
[20:53] And I think the first refrigerator we
[20:55] got in our home was maybe just about the
[20:58] time I became a teenager. So, humble
[21:00] beginnings and of course,
[21:04] you you the
[21:06] always operating, you know, I could see
[21:08] my parents are always operating under
[21:11] tremendous constraints, but always very
[21:13] much focused on their children and
[21:16] particularly education for their
[21:18] children. So, I grew up in a home, you
[21:21] know, that definitely
[21:23] very much focused on family, family
[21:26] first,
[21:28] home where family values mattered a lot
[21:31] and home where my dad absolutely a man
[21:36] of tremendous conviction, force of
[21:39] nature and
[21:42] really
[21:43] the values he believed and he stood for
[21:45] them, no matter how hard things around
[21:48] him got in terms of living those values.
[21:51] I
[21:52] lived under a mom, you know, that was
[21:55] very calm, very composed. You know, as
[21:58] you can imagine, I mean, you know,
[22:00] coming from a modest, humble beginnings,
[22:02] I mean, our family did go through a lot
[22:04] of ups and downs and financial hardships
[22:07] as well and both my parents, you know,
[22:11] absolutely focused
[22:12] on the children. So, a home that also
[22:15] very much focused on education. I think
[22:17] education was always a priority for us.
[22:20] So, you talk about the values that he
[22:22] that he stood for even when it was hard.
[22:23] What were some of those values that like
[22:25] it seemed like it would have been easier
[22:27] to just back away?
[22:28] I mean, for him it was very important
[22:31] that
[22:32] equality, for example, you know, men and
[22:35] women getting treated the same. Just
[22:37] keep in mind, I'm talking about 1960s.
[22:41] We are two brothers and two sisters and
[22:43] my dad would be saying in those times
[22:46] that
[22:48] he has four sons, not two sons and two
[22:51] daughters. And he sent my sister back in
[22:55] the 60s time frame in India to an
[22:58] engineering college and you know, the
[23:00] family absolutely extended family was
[23:04] thinking that, you know, what is my dad
[23:06] doing that he's crazy. In those days,
[23:10] there used to be hardly any girls in
[23:12] engineering colleges in India. So, I
[23:14] think these are the kind of
[23:16] values that my dad absolutely stood for
[23:20] and
[23:22] as well as, you know, believing in what
[23:24] is right.
[23:28] You know, growing up in India
[23:31] you know, in average society you could
[23:33] see corruption around you and he would
[23:36] absolutely never ever take part in it
[23:39] and would even if it meant hardship for
[23:41] him. And many times he ran into
[23:44] hardship, but he would never, you know,
[23:46] support any act of corruption.
[23:48] That explains a lot about you.
[23:51] And how that you have, you know, always
[23:53] been such a champion of women's rights
[23:55] and
[23:56] you know, women more women participating
[23:58] in our industry. So, that that tells me
[24:01] a lot. So, I'm glad you told me that
[24:02] story. So, how did they how did your
[24:05] parents define success in the household?
[24:09] I think you know, success in the
[24:10] household was definitely making sure
[24:13] that, you know, family is together,
[24:15] family is respecting each other and
[24:16] caring for each other, staying
[24:18] connected. Success in the household was,
[24:21] you know, definitely again
[24:23] that there is respect for elders and,
[24:26] you know,
[24:28] respect for values that are that were
[24:30] important to the family. And then
[24:32] certainly success was
[24:36] for the children growing up was, you
[24:38] know, education.
[24:39] Okay. Okay. And so, all four of you were
[24:42] highly educated. Did you all become
[24:43] engineers?
[24:44] Three of us engineers, fourth
[24:47] was not an engineer early on. She
[24:50] studied,
[24:52] you know,
[24:53] dietetics dietitian courses, but later
[24:56] transitioned to engineering. So, all
[24:58] four of us
[25:01] became engineers and practiced
[25:03] engineering. Yes.
[25:04] Wow, that's pretty amazing. So,
[25:07] were you a very serious kid and a very
[25:09] serious student? I mean, I want to hear
[25:10] about some mischief that you must have
[25:12] done.
[25:13] Yeah,
[25:14] generally very serious student on the
[25:17] quieter side
[25:19] and but yes, there were times when did
[25:24] get in trouble, you know, for some of
[25:26] the mischiefs. I mean,
[25:28] um
[25:29] you know,
[25:31] in particularly in college, you know, if
[25:33] the
[25:35] college in India because I did 2 years
[25:36] of college in India before transitioning
[25:38] to Berkeley here to finish my undergrad.
[25:41] But in very early years in college in
[25:43] India, I mean, if the professor was
[25:46] you know, kind of boring. I mean,
[25:47] sometimes, you know,
[25:49] you'll attendance was important. You
[25:51] know, you'll
[25:52] give your attendance, but then jump out
[25:54] of the window out of the classroom to
[25:57] then, you know,
[25:58] spare yourself from the torture of the
[26:00] class. I mean, so some of those things
[26:02] and you know, did some of those kind of
[26:03] things along with friends. In India,
[26:05] sometimes it was
[26:07] the whole class
[26:08] will decide that they're going to cut
[26:10] the class and because attendance would
[26:13] be important. Attendance would be very
[26:15] important, but yes, I mean, teacher
[26:17] would be walking from one side and the
[26:18] whole class will be walking in the other
[26:20] direction. [laughter] So, yes, I've had
[26:21] some of those funny crazy moments.
[26:23] That's funny.
[26:25] So,
[26:26] tell me a little bit about
[26:28] the other besides it family members,
[26:30] other people, places, or even events
[26:33] that impacted you and put you sort of on
[26:36] the path to where you are today.
[26:38] So, one of the most important events and
[26:40] I often have talked about it is
[26:43] when I had finished my 2 years of
[26:46] college in India. I was 18 years old.
[26:49] And my dad always had the dream to send
[26:53] me to the US for higher education.
[26:56] Didn't quite have financial means,
[27:00] didn't quite have a plan on how to
[27:02] support it, but he had the dream that he
[27:04] wants to send me to the US. Of course,
[27:06] my elder brother, who was already here,
[27:09] I must always be very thankful to him
[27:12] because
[27:13] you know, he supported my dad's dream
[27:15] and you know, said that okay, he will
[27:18] try to support me and remember, I mean
[27:20] he was I think at that time only about
[27:22] um
[27:24] you know, in his late 20s.
[27:26] And um so, I went to US Embassy with
[27:30] admissions in hand from US US
[27:32] universities and I got denied my visa
[27:34] three times and three different times.
[27:36] And when that happened, my dad
[27:39] um
[27:40] didn't accept it and he said he wants to
[27:42] talk to the consul
[27:45] uh on duty
[27:47] uh who happened to be out for lunch. As
[27:50] he walked back in, you know, my dad uh
[27:53] essentially grabbed hold of him and I
[27:56] must say that he was very kind and lucky
[27:59] we were lucky that he let us into his
[28:01] office. And at that moment, you know,
[28:04] for about 20 minutes, you know, my dad
[28:08] um
[28:08] essentially you know, made a case for
[28:11] me. He was my father, he was my lawyer,
[28:14] he was my coach in that moment. It's
[28:16] essentially made a very passionate case.
[28:20] 20 minutes of non-stop from my dad that
[28:23] why would the consul deny me the
[28:27] opportunity to come to the US
[28:31] um
[28:31] that
[28:32] don't they realize that, you know, what
[28:35] um a loss it would be for me, but he
[28:37] also said at that time that you know,
[28:41] would you would be denied a very strong
[28:43] student in your country at that time.
[28:46] And at the end of that 20 minutes, I
[28:48] mean the consul took the passport and he
[28:50] stamped the visa.
[28:51] And you know, it was a performance of a
[28:54] lifetime for me to watch, right? And
[28:55] learn from. And it was at that moment
[28:58] that I learned that if you ever seek
[29:00] success, start with tenacity. My dad
[29:03] just did not give up. Of course, I also
[29:06] learned and have always appreciated that
[29:07] we were very lucky. I mean, suppose, you
[29:10] know, that consul had not walked in at
[29:12] that time and my dad was not able to get
[29:14] hold of him or
[29:17] if he didn't want to listen to him,
[29:19] could have easily, you know, walked him
[29:21] out. We were just lucky as well. So, I
[29:23] think tenacity and no question that luck
[29:26] do play an important role. You know,
[29:28] others that have really influenced my
[29:30] professor at Berkeley
[29:32] who absolutely coached me, guided me
[29:35] back in 1979
[29:37] when I was looking for jobs and
[29:39] graduating with my masters. He guided me
[29:43] towards Intel where I joined team of
[29:46] George Perlegos who absolutely became a
[29:48] mentor for me. So, my professor was a
[29:50] mentor, George Perlegos at Intel. He was
[29:53] the golden boy of non-volatile memories
[29:55] at Intel Corporation. I learned a lot
[29:56] from him. You know, he really taught me
[29:59] back then in early '80s that engineering
[30:01] was not just about design engineering
[30:04] which is, you know, something I
[30:07] I had studied for and I had started as a
[30:09] design engineer first in the industry.
[30:11] But that you had to focus on test and
[30:14] manufacturability, quality and that this
[30:17] was all the responsibility of engineers
[30:19] designing the chip. I So, I learned that
[30:21] discipline very early on from him and I
[30:23] always thank him for coaching me to
[30:26] become a good engineer. And then Eli
[30:29] Harari, the lead founder at SanDisk, he
[30:32] absolutely helped me transition from an
[30:35] engineering manager
[30:38] or an engineer to a business leader. So,
[30:41] I mean, these
[30:43] my dad,
[30:45] my professor at Berkeley, my first boss
[30:48] in the industry, George Perlegos, who
[30:50] later became founder of Atmel
[30:51] Corporation as well, and Eli Harari, the
[30:54] lead founder of SanDisk, have absolutely
[30:56] shaped my career. And I would say that,
[30:59] you know, my wife
[31:01] plays a very, very important role in my
[31:03] journey because,
[31:05] you know, where I am today, this would
[31:06] not have been possible if actually she
[31:08] had not sacrificed her career to raise
[31:11] our daughters. She was
[31:13] well-respected,
[31:15] you know, accountant as well as
[31:17] controller in the tech industry, but in
[31:20] late '90s, in order to support the kids,
[31:22] you know, gave up her career. And,
[31:26] you know, that definitely helped me
[31:28] focus
[31:29] Okay.
[31:29] on my professional journey as well.
[31:31] Okay. Very good. So,
[31:34] you know, it it's very interesting in
[31:36] our industry because there are a lot of
[31:37] leaders of Indian descent.
[31:40] And they all sort of have a few things
[31:42] in common, you know, that
[31:45] very ambitious, very driven, very
[31:47] disciplined, very resilient.
[31:50] So, do you find that those
[31:51] characteristics are are true about the
[31:53] other Indians that you work with within
[31:55] the industry? And do you think that that
[31:58] that helps you? It
[32:00] Those characteristics and maybe, you
[32:02] know, being an outsider when you came to
[32:04] the US, you think those things help you?
[32:06] You know, certainly the background that
[32:08] you come from does shape who you are. It
[32:11] does shape your character and absolutely
[32:14] that does influence your
[32:16] leadership style as well. No question
[32:20] that, you know, very many of the Indians
[32:22] who are here in the tech ecosystem, you
[32:26] know, went through tremendous amount of
[32:28] competition to get to be able to get
[32:30] into the best schools in India as well
[32:33] as then schools here in the US. So, of
[32:36] course, you know,
[32:38] competition and thriving in competition
[32:40] absolutely deeply rooted because in
[32:43] India, 1.4 billion people, I mean, even
[32:46] in your school level, high school level,
[32:49] tremendous amount of competition.
[32:51] Um but also,
[32:53] uh you know, India, developing country,
[32:56] country of very many constraints in
[32:58] terms of resources. Many of us come from
[33:01] humble beginnings, you know, uh
[33:04] uh middle-class family background just
[33:06] like I described it to you for myself.
[33:09] Um and that learning, you know, how to
[33:12] operate within constraints, I believe
[33:15] uh ends up somehow being ingrained in
[33:17] us. I mean, seeing that in our childhood
[33:20] growing up as well as in terms of
[33:22] managing um
[33:24] through, you know,
[33:26] all of the life, growing up, even going
[33:28] to colleges in India, um operating under
[33:31] constraint, which when you think about
[33:33] it, that is such an important aspect for
[33:35] running a business, right? And um
[33:39] uh you know, the other part I would say
[33:40] is that India is a very, very diverse
[33:42] country. And uh
[33:44] so,
[33:46] you end up growing
[33:47] within lot of diversity, so you
[33:49] naturally
[33:51] uh learn uh to respect, to hear various
[33:55] points of views, and that ultimately
[33:58] helps as well.
[33:59] And you know, lastly, I would say that
[34:02] think about um
[34:04] uh you know,
[34:06] us as students coming here to the
[34:09] country,
[34:10] um and
[34:12] giving up, you know, uh what we have had
[34:16] in our own upbringing there, and
[34:19] adjusting into a totally new
[34:23] environment, right? So, that
[34:25] adaptability that is needed, and that
[34:29] element of risk that is there in just
[34:31] going to a new country. Like when I came
[34:33] here and I went to Berkeley, I didn't
[34:35] know a single person. I didn't actually
[34:36] have even housing arranged, right? So,
[34:39] how you have to adapt at that point, how
[34:43] there is certain element of risk that
[34:45] you're taking. You are certainly
[34:47] stretching out of your comfort zone, you
[34:50] know, when you're coming to a foreign
[34:52] country and adjusting to a new education
[34:55] system as well as a cultural
[34:57] environment. It just brings about, I
[34:59] think, a cultural agility as well. So, I
[35:01] mean, all of those things, all of those
[35:03] attributes, when you think about it, it
[35:05] does help in uh running a business.
[35:09] And you know, when you come here as a
[35:11] foreign student, you are definitely very
[35:13] much focused on um gaining stability,
[35:16] establishing yourself. You're absolutely
[35:20] hungry uh as well.
[35:23] I think, you know, that again
[35:25] um is something that's always helpful in
[35:28] the business, too.
[35:29] Right. Yeah, and then that I mean, that
[35:31] makes sense because it's not only just
[35:33] in our industry. I mean, if you look at
[35:34] global com- companies around the world,
[35:38] so many of them were led by um those of
[35:40] Indian descent. So, I mean, it's it's
[35:41] fascinating.
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[36:37] episode.
[36:38] Did all of your siblings end up in the
[36:39] US?
[36:40] Yes, they did.
[36:41] And did your parents end up in the US?
[36:43] My parents then in 1980s came to the US
[36:46] as well. Yes.
[36:47] Nice. So, they got to see some of your
[36:48] success.
[36:50] Uh
[36:51] I mean, at SanDisk, they certainly got
[36:53] to see some of my success. Yeah.
[36:55] Were they proud?
[36:55] And
[36:57] both my dad parents, I mean, my dad, my
[36:59] mom,
[36:59] [snorts]
[37:00] extremely proud. I know that they would
[37:02] be rooting for
[37:03] [laughter]
[37:04] me and Micron today as they would have
[37:06] seen
[37:07] the company enter into the
[37:09] trillion-dollar club. And
[37:11] my dad was sometimes so proud that he
[37:14] would embarrass me talking about me and
[37:17] my siblings to other members, and I
[37:20] would cringe and I would like to leave
[37:22] the room. So, yes. Yeah.
[37:24] That's cute. So, it it's been so much
[37:26] fun the last few years in our industry
[37:29] because, you know, really starting in
[37:30] 2016, people began to take notice of our
[37:33] industry.
[37:35] Um by 2020, you know, even everyday
[37:38] people knew about semiconductors cuz
[37:40] they couldn't get a car or refrigerator
[37:41] that they wanted.
[37:43] And today we sit at the center of what
[37:45] everybody, every country emphatically
[37:47] cares about, including national
[37:49] security.
[37:50] So, how do you What do you think about
[37:52] this this evolution of uh the
[37:55] recognition of semiconductors, and do
[37:57] you ever worry about the governments,
[38:00] whether it's our government or Indian
[38:01] government or others, getting too
[38:03] involved in our industry?
[38:06] Micron is making investments of $200
[38:08] billion
[38:08] here in America bringing leading-edge
[38:10] memory manufacturing as well as long
[38:13] life cycle memory manufacturing in the
[38:15] US. Just last Friday, actually, we had
[38:18] uh
[38:19] the start of our first wafers from an
[38:21] expansion uh and modernization of our
[38:25] facility in Manassas, Virginia. Very
[38:27] much targeted toward long life cycle
[38:29] projects. Boise, Idaho as well as
[38:32] Syracuse, New York, we are making
[38:34] investments to build leading edge memory
[38:36] fabs here. So, clearly the importance of
[38:40] semiconductors and certainly importance
[38:43] of memory uh how important it is to AI
[38:46] is well recognized by not only the US
[38:49] government is definitely recognized
[38:51] uh by governments, you know, across the
[38:53] world. And so, that's a great place for
[38:56] semiconductor industry to be in. And of
[38:58] course, we have tremendous
[39:00] responsibility to ensure that, you know,
[39:03] where we have offices, where we have
[39:04] operations, uh that we are uh supporting
[39:08] uh the growth of our teams, the
[39:09] communities, as well as our operations
[39:12] there.
[39:12] And so, how do you think the US is doing
[39:14] um in terms of being competitive
[39:16] worldwide now?
[39:17] I think US is doing very well. I mean,
[39:19] you know, certainly when we look at uh
[39:21] Micron as a memory leader here in the US
[39:23] and the as the only company in the
[39:27] Western Hemispheres that manufactures
[39:30] memory, I mean, Micron is doing very
[39:32] well. Uh US is absolutely leading in
[39:36] innovation, leading with technology. And
[39:40] um I think you see that in terms of, you
[39:42] know, how
[39:44] uh AI is models are advancing, how
[39:46] inference solutions are advancing. So, I
[39:49] think overall the US is doing very well.
[39:51] Of course, you know, there is for such
[39:54] an exciting opportunity, there is
[39:55] intense competition from overseas as
[39:58] well. You know, certainly competition
[40:00] from China there as well, but I think uh
[40:03] US is well positioned to continue to
[40:06] lead.
[40:07] Okay. So, it's been very interesting to
[40:10] watch the semiconductor industry's
[40:12] leadership over the years because, I
[40:13] mean, it's it's not only the people have
[40:16] changed, but the style of leadership has
[40:18] changed a lot. Used to be a pretty
[40:19] brutal industry in terms of of
[40:21] leadership. I mean, you think back at
[40:22] the Morris Chang days and at TI.
[40:25] And I'm I'm sure you experienced it
[40:27] probably at the early days of Intel, but
[40:29] it seems to sort of a kinder, gentler
[40:31] leadership today. Do you Do you believe
[40:33] that? I mean, do you think And why do
[40:35] you think that that has changed?
[40:37] Yeah, I I think, you know, the industry
[40:39] was definitely uh in the early years,
[40:41] semiconductor industry was very much a
[40:43] go-go kind of industry, right? And with
[40:46] technology advancing fast, you know,
[40:49] uh
[40:50] uh product innovation happening,
[40:52] applications growing from
[40:55] uh PCs to mobile phones to cloud, very
[40:59] go-go kind of industry. And I think the
[41:01] industry has uh generally recognized
[41:04] that it's not only about technology and
[41:07] products and manufacturing and business
[41:11] and revenues and profits, but it is also
[41:13] about culture. And I think that
[41:16] increased focus on culture in the
[41:19] semiconductor industry definitely has uh
[41:22] brought about a different kind of
[41:24] leadership transition across industry,
[41:26] too.
[41:26] Right. Yeah, you've built an amazing
[41:28] culture at Micron.
[41:29] And obviously very intentionally. So,
[41:32] how would you describe your leadership
[41:34] skills or style, leadership style?
[41:37] You know, my leadership style uh is
[41:39] definitely one that can focus into the
[41:42] details uh when necessary. I mean,
[41:44] definitely engineering driven, very much
[41:47] data driven, but also uh very much
[41:50] reliant on the team and extremely
[41:54] focused on
[41:56] um moving fast and uh
[41:59] you know, customer-focused, as well.
[42:02] I'll tell you that uh you know, early
[42:04] years of my leadership at SanDisk, one
[42:08] could say that, you know, I was a
[42:11] micromanager because I would be
[42:12] extremely into all the details. Some can
[42:15] say even today that I can be a
[42:18] micro-manager when needed. I personally
[42:20] believe that in our industry when
[42:22] technology moves so fast, products are
[42:25] moving so fast, customers are moving so
[42:27] fast, competition is moving fast, it is
[42:30] important to be able to see the big
[42:32] picture as well as to be able to dive
[42:34] into the details when it's necessary to
[42:37] ensure uh the that the company is
[42:40] realizing its fullest potential. So, I
[42:43] do think that balance is uh needed and
[42:46] I'm able to drive that balance. But, in
[42:48] order to drive that balance, you have to
[42:50] be close to engineering as well as you
[42:52] have to have strong leaders and strong
[42:55] reliance on those leaders. And so, at
[42:58] the end of the day, it always is about
[43:00] the um team. So, my leadership is uh
[43:04] style is very much reliant on having a
[43:06] strong team working with me.
[43:09] You're very you're sort of quiet and
[43:11] understated. You think is that
[43:12] intentional or is that just part of your
[43:14] personality?
[43:15] You know, I I am. I mean, that is
[43:17] definitely part of my personality that I
[43:19] am
[43:20] uh on the quieter side and uh certainly
[43:23] also in situations um I would
[43:26] intentionally want to listen as well.
[43:30] Listen, process, analyze thing, you
[43:32] know,
[43:33] um decide. And I think um
[43:36] just listening I do think is extremely
[43:39] important.
[43:40] Right. All right. Well, how would you
[43:41] describe the culture at Micron?
[43:44] Uh culture at Micron is a culture, you
[43:47] know, where we enable everybody to be
[43:49] able to um express their views. We say
[43:53] that we want to hear all ideas and let
[43:54] the best ideas win. Uh we really try to
[43:57] promote that people should be able to
[44:00] speak up, raise their hand when they see
[44:03] that something can be done differently,
[44:05] better, faster, cheaper, or you know,
[44:09] something is not right and there's an
[44:11] opportunity for improvement. We always
[44:13] want to encourage our team members to be
[44:15] able to speak up and that's something we
[44:17] always absolutely encourage. Micron is
[44:21] absolutely a very tenacious company and
[44:25] being in the memory industry, especially
[44:27] now 47 years old, you know, definitely
[44:30] required tremendous amount of tenacity.
[44:32] So, the culture tenacity is a very
[44:35] deeply rooted value in the company. It
[44:38] is also a company where people do care
[44:41] about each other. So, people is another
[44:44] core value of Micron. That's just I
[44:47] think
[44:48] how the founders of the company you
[44:51] know, in the early days in Boise, but
[44:52] even now as it expanded globally, I
[44:55] think that caring for people,
[44:57] understanding people, and you know,
[44:59] especially working with different
[45:00] cultures, I think is an important part
[45:02] of Micron culture. I would say
[45:07] innovation. You know, absolutely deeply
[45:10] rooted in Micron. Look at it.
[45:13] [clears throat] I mean, again, there
[45:14] used to be
[45:16] you know,
[45:17] dozens of companies in the memory
[45:18] industry. Today,
[45:20] very few. Only really in DRAM, there are
[45:23] only three and in the US, there's only
[45:25] one DRAM company and that's Micron,
[45:27] right? So, you know, certainly that is
[45:29] enabled by Micron's uh
[45:32] ability to constantly innovate and
[45:35] leverage it to the company's benefit. We
[45:38] have transitioned Micron culture from
[45:40] being a follower or being a survivor to
[45:43] today becoming a clear leader and not
[45:47] just survive, but thrive as well. And I
[45:50] mean, the team at Micron is very much
[45:52] focused on
[45:54] absolutely winning.
[45:55] Okay. Yeah, I see Micron is a very
[45:57] progressive company and it that's not
[46:00] easy to say about a company as old as
[46:01] Micron. And in being in memory, sort of
[46:04] think of that as, you know,
[46:05] I don't know, um, a less,
[46:08] you know,
[46:11] fancy kind of, um, technology.
[46:14] I mean, it is now for sure, but
[46:16] I would definitely want to correct that
[46:18] impression, and that is something people
[46:20] often have misunderstood about memory,
[46:23] that how hard it is to make memory. I
[46:25] mean, the physics, the chemistry, the
[46:28] material science, all of the engineering
[46:31] that goes into designing these memory
[46:34] chips, producing them in large volume,
[46:36] making sure they have the reliability,
[46:39] the quality, the testability, and
[46:41] ramping those into large volumes, and
[46:43] ensuring that every bit out of these
[46:47] trillions of bits in a product are
[46:49] behaving correctly. I mean, there's so
[46:51] much physics and, you know, science
[46:53] involved in it. It's hard stuff. It's
[46:55] really hard stuff. And now it's getting
[46:58] even harder because it's not just about
[47:00] scaling. It is absolutely about how to
[47:03] deliver that performance that truly
[47:04] enables AI from data center to edge, to
[47:08] deliver it in those higher capacities,
[47:10] in those various packages that are
[47:12] needed, right? So,
[47:14] this is what I think, you know, people
[47:16] many times underestimate. Memory is
[47:18] very, very, uh, hard stuff, and one
[47:22] should never underestimate that how how
[47:25] much technology
[47:27] and engineering goes into uh, producing
[47:31] memory. It is no less than any other
[47:33] part of semiconductor industry, and
[47:35] certain aspects I would say that are
[47:36] even harder in memory.
[47:39] Okay, we now stand corrected.
[47:41] I appreciate that.
[47:42] So, you know, there's this there's a
[47:44] sort of tension these days between
[47:47] providing opportunity and sort of
[47:50] performative inclusion, the the tension
[47:52] between the two. Um, you know, there as
[47:54] you know, many companies have dismantled
[47:57] their DEI teams internally within
[47:59] companies,
[48:01] um stopped any sort of single-sex
[48:03] programs within their companies.
[48:05] And, you know, we we've talked for a
[48:07] long time because we you you really were
[48:10] uh
[48:11] huge proponent of the GSA's Women's
[48:13] Leadership Initiative in making sure
[48:15] that this industry has the talent that's
[48:18] necessary to get to a trillion plus in
[48:20] revenues. That if you're ignoring 50% of
[48:22] population, it's a great place to start.
[48:24] So, it was never about sort of lowering
[48:26] any standards. It was trying to make
[48:27] this industry attractive to bring people
[48:30] in and once they're in to make it a
[48:32] great industry for women.
[48:34] So, how do you think we're doing? What
[48:35] you know, how do we solve that kind of
[48:37] tension between performative and actual
[48:41] opportunity?
[48:42] I think you said the keywords. It was
[48:43] never ever about compromising on merit.
[48:46] I think absolutely semiconductor
[48:48] industry, you cannot thrive if your team
[48:51] is not of the highest merit and your
[48:54] focus is not on merit. And,
[48:57] um so I mean, that has always been
[48:59] Micron's focus. Certainly, as I said, I
[49:02] think it is very important that if you
[49:04] want to drive innovation and you want to
[49:07] drive the best uh outcomes for the
[49:09] business, it's important to be able to
[49:12] hear all ideas. All ideas and, you know,
[49:15] let them bubble up and, you know, decide
[49:18] uh which are the best ideas to pursue.
[49:20] And, uh providing an environment, you
[49:22] know, in that uh regard an inclusive
[49:25] environment for all to be able to
[49:27] express their point of views and to be
[49:29] able to debate them and move forward, I
[49:31] think is just important and that's just
[49:33] the natural part of um Micron as well.
[49:37] And at Micron, I think, you know, the
[49:40] company has um 61,000 plus patents. I
[49:43] mean, we are an innovation powerhouse
[49:46] here among the very top innovators in
[49:48] the world. I mean, Micron has one of the
[49:50] innovators um, who has now exceeded
[49:53] Einstein's patents and is among the top
[49:56] five or so innovators, I believe, in the
[49:58] country. So, innovation is flourishing
[50:00] well at Micron. Women innovators, you
[50:03] know, we launched a program in women
[50:06] women innovation several years ago. And
[50:09] women innovators at Micron, in terms of
[50:12] their numbers, are continuing to
[50:13] increase as well. And we really want to
[50:16] make sure, because IP is such a
[50:19] competitive competitive advantage, and
[50:21] IP and innovation is what uh provides
[50:25] you differentiation in your technology
[50:26] and products, we absolutely put in lot
[50:29] of work in making sure that we convey to
[50:32] our broader teams across the board, all
[50:34] team members, that how important
[50:36] innovation is, how important IP is. And
[50:39] innovation is not just about technology
[50:42] or or products, it is absolutely about
[50:46] business processes. I mean, how to do
[50:48] things better, differently.
[50:50] Uh, and especially now with AI, as we
[50:53] drive AI transformation in the company,
[50:55] lot of opportunity for innovation. It's
[50:58] not about bolting AI on old business
[51:01] processes. Now is the time to reimagine
[51:04] what we are doing and then add AI
[51:06] elements to it. So, this is all part of
[51:09] Micron's culture, and this wouldn't
[51:11] happen if we didn't promote a culture of
[51:13] inclusion and uh everybody to be able to
[51:16] speak up and express their point of
[51:18] views and hear what others have to say
[51:21] as well.
[51:22] What would you say to young women that
[51:24] are um
[51:25] on a STEM path at university, the top of
[51:28] their class, they're they're double E or
[51:30] physics? What would you say to them
[51:32] about joining the semiconductor
[51:33] industry?
[51:34] I would say come join Micron. And, you
[51:36] know, uh this is the best time for
[51:39] semiconductor industry
[51:41] and so much exciting opportunities
[51:43] ahead. And come join the workforce, be
[51:46] part of it, be part of the change
[51:48] transformation that is ahead for our
[51:50] industry and not only say it to those
[51:53] that are in the semiconductor curriculum
[51:56] in their universities. I would
[51:57] absolutely
[51:59] say that to young students,
[52:02] those you know, that are in middle grade
[52:04] or middle school or high school.
[52:07] Would love to see
[52:09] that they get inspired toward STEM.
[52:12] Micron actually for last several years
[52:16] has been taking what we call our chip
[52:18] camp
[52:19] to the communities across US,
[52:22] particularly where we have operations,
[52:24] getting our team members to participate
[52:26] in it, going to middle schools and high
[52:28] schools and taking the basic education
[52:32] about chips, about semiconductors and
[52:35] to these students,
[52:39] making them aware of the power of
[52:40] semiconductors and sparking interest in
[52:44] sciences, interest in STEM STEM in them.
[52:46] This is really, really important in
[52:48] order to build the workforce of the
[52:50] future right here in this country. You
[52:52] know, our investments of 200 billion
[52:54] dollars are going to add like 90,000
[52:56] jobs in the ecosystem. So, Micron has to
[52:58] take the responsibility and to invest in
[53:00] bringing everybody into the
[53:02] semiconductor workforce, not just women,
[53:05] but veterans, people from all kinds of
[53:07] backgrounds to join our workforce
[53:09] because we need to add. We have shortage
[53:12] of talent here as well.
[53:13] Right. So, you talked about the
[53:15] investment of 200
[53:17] billion over the next few years in the
[53:20] US. And you know, you have to make those
[53:23] kinds of decisions.
[53:25] We talked about the feast and famine in
[53:26] the memory industry and in a time that
[53:29] there was a lot of famine, you had to
[53:30] make those kind of big decisions. How do
[53:32] you get comfortable with that kind of
[53:34] risk and in making those kind of
[53:36] decisions and do you ever, you know, do
[53:38] you ever doubt yourself?
[53:40] I mean, you know, I have been in this
[53:42] industry, in the memory industry, for
[53:43] 45-plus years. I love uh this industry,
[53:47] have always believed in the potential of
[53:49] this industry, have always believed that
[53:52] the best is yet to come, and I'm super
[53:54] excited, you know, to be able to work
[53:57] with our customers to advance AI. And it
[54:00] has been clear that this needs
[54:02] investments to be made. But of course,
[54:05] investments are not made blindly. I
[54:07] mean, investments are made with
[54:09] discipline. Investments are made with
[54:12] data, understanding the technology, the
[54:15] applications, where the applications are
[54:17] going, working closely with our
[54:19] customers to understand where they are
[54:21] going, and what will what role does
[54:24] Micron play. All of that ultimately
[54:26] translates into our assessment, along
[54:29] with our customers' assessment, of what
[54:31] the demand projections can look like.
[54:34] You know, of course, can go wrong,
[54:36] sometimes can be oversupplied, sometimes
[54:38] can be undersupplied. And right now,
[54:40] with AI, I mean, you know, this is this
[54:43] demand demand environment is here to
[54:45] stay. So, understanding, working closely
[54:47] with the customer, understanding
[54:50] the applications and the demand trend
[54:52] and the value proposition of micro-
[54:55] memory, and shifting the portfolio
[54:58] toward higher value solutions, and then
[55:01] of course,
[55:02] uh with continued success of that
[55:04] execution of that strategy, of course,
[55:07] then you make the investments based on
[55:09] data. And based on always discipline
[55:13] regarding that investments. I always
[55:15] emphasize that because this is a very
[55:16] important part of Micron strategy.
[55:19] Today, we are investing in building the
[55:22] green fields, the shells. Um
[55:25] as these shells get built out, of
[55:26] course, we'll exercise discipline in
[55:29] terms of how we equip these cells. That
[55:31] discipline means always assessing what
[55:34] the demand projections are, looking at
[55:36] what the technology capabilities are in
[55:39] terms of giving us bit growth, looking
[55:41] at what the product requirements have to
[55:43] be, how do they impact, you know, the
[55:46] supply dynamic, assessing all of that,
[55:49] and of course managing the risk
[55:51] appropriately and managing capex in
[55:54] highly efficient manner. These are some
[55:56] of the priorities that our entire team
[55:59] very much focuses on.
[56:01] Okay. Okay, you ever have any
[56:03] self-doubt?
[56:05] I mean, we do not have self-doubt. I
[56:07] mean, we absolutely believe in the
[56:10] opportunity for memory. Today, I think
[56:11] it is very, very clear. And I think
[56:14] always what is important in our business
[56:16] is be able to adapt and be agile. And
[56:19] Micron has shown that over the years.
[56:21] That yes, we have exercised financial
[56:23] discipline, but we have shown tremendous
[56:25] adaptability and agility as well.
[56:27] Okay.
[56:28] The future of technology will be built
[56:30] on the foundation of advanced hardware
[56:32] and AI.
[56:34] For leaders in this space, the pressure
[56:35] to make the right call on everything
[56:37] from R&D to market expansion is immense.
[56:41] KPMG works with leaders who are building
[56:44] this future.
[56:45] They will help you navigate the risks,
[56:47] responsibilities, and the possibilities
[56:50] of transformational technology so you
[56:52] can make clearer, more confident
[56:54] decisions.
[56:55] When your trusted advisor understands
[56:57] the stakes, you can focus on what's
[56:59] next.
[57:00] Learn more at kpmg.com.
[57:04] Let's get back to the episode.
[57:07] So, you know, oftentimes when people
[57:08] look at CEOs, they think that it's a
[57:10] pretty glamorous job to have. I mean,
[57:13] make the big bucks, you get to go to the
[57:15] White House, you um,
[57:17] you know, fly on private planes, all
[57:19] these things.
[57:20] But really, the life of a CEO is a
[57:22] pretty tough job. I mean, it's a huge
[57:24] responsibility and great sacrifices.
[57:28] So, I want to ask you if you've ever had
[57:29] to make sacrifices um, as a human being
[57:32] had to make sacrifices for your job that
[57:35] you regret making.
[57:37] You know, I do not regret making
[57:40] sacrifices, but definitely um, I had to
[57:44] make sacrifices the and I don't regret
[57:47] making them, but the sacrifices were
[57:49] around time. And sacrifices in terms of
[57:53] giving sometimes time to family, giving
[57:57] time to parents, you know, giving time
[58:01] to extended family.
[58:03] And you know, those sacrifices over the
[58:05] career have certainly been made because,
[58:08] you know,
[58:09] throughout my career journey, it has
[58:11] been extremely demanding to be at the
[58:15] bleeding edge of technology of memory.
[58:19] Um, the job has involved tremendous
[58:21] amount of travel as well given that um,
[58:25] have always been a very global company.
[58:28] So, I would say that um,
[58:31] um,
[58:32] you know, those are the only sacrifices
[58:35] uh, of time towards loved ones that uh,
[58:40] I absolutely um, sometimes wish had
[58:43] given some more time, for example, to my
[58:45] parents,
[58:46] Right.
[58:46] So, you've been you've been married for
[58:48] 42 years. And I met your your wife
[58:51] earlier. Tell us a little bit about
[58:53] that. First of all, it started out as an
[58:55] arranged marriage, so I want you maybe
[58:56] address that cuz a lot of people don't
[58:58] necessarily understand the dynamics
[59:00] behind that. And then how you've done
[59:03] it. I mean, how once again,
[59:06] great sacrifices probably made on both
[59:08] sides. Um, but there are a lot of young
[59:10] people out there that are very reluctant
[59:12] to start families or think, "How can I
[59:14] have this like amazing exciting career
[59:18] and have a happy home life?"
[59:20] Yeah.
[59:20] Is it possible?
[59:21] A- And again, you know, certainly a lot
[59:23] of sacrifices here with respect to the
[59:25] time spent with the when I said with the
[59:27] loved ones, that certainly includes my
[59:30] family, certainly includes my wife as
[59:32] well as my children. Very, very
[59:35] fortunate to have an amazing wife, you
[59:38] know, who has
[59:40] amazingly calm demeanor and you know, is
[59:45] able to go through the ups and downs in
[59:47] a very balanced manner and remains a
[59:49] rational thinker. And yes, we were
[59:52] introduced by our parents and we got
[59:55] married 42 years ago. And yes, arranged
[59:58] marriage, it has absolutely worked
[01:00:01] wonderfully well for us. And you know,
[01:00:03] arranged marriage of course requires
[01:00:05] commitment. Right? And of course
[01:00:08] requires adjustment. Right? And I I
[01:00:12] think, you know, both of us
[01:00:14] and I would say my wife certainly has
[01:00:17] has managed that
[01:00:19] extremely well and I have had to make
[01:00:22] adjustments and absolutely a commitment
[01:00:24] as well. So, very fortunate and feel
[01:00:26] very blessed to have um this
[01:00:29] you know, successful marriage which
[01:00:31] absolutely has been a key contributor to
[01:00:34] my career journey.
[01:00:36] Okay, so you ended up making a career
[01:00:40] sacrifice when you all were first
[01:00:41] married because she couldn't get into
[01:00:44] the US and you actually took a different
[01:00:46] direction in your career than you
[01:00:47] thought and somehow Floyd Kwami plays
[01:00:50] into this. And I was I was friends with
[01:00:51] Floyd Kwami, we served on the Empower
[01:00:53] America board together once upon a time.
[01:00:56] So, tell me that story.
[01:00:57] Yeah, we got married in 1984 and it
[01:01:00] would have taken my wife about a year to
[01:01:03] year and a half for her to get her green
[01:01:06] card um to be able to come to the US. Uh
[01:01:10] so, during that time she did not have
[01:01:12] the visa to come to the US. And Floyd
[01:01:15] Kwami, who was the chairman of the
[01:01:18] startup company called Seek Technology
[01:01:21] that I was with, which was a spin-off
[01:01:23] from Intel. Intel was the first company
[01:01:26] I joined in 1980, and then around '82
[01:01:29] time frame, there was this spin-off
[01:01:31] called TEAC technology that I had
[01:01:32] joined.
[01:01:34] And I was actually a few years later, in
[01:01:36] that 1984 time frame, I was going to be
[01:01:39] lead leaving TEAC to join a startup,
[01:01:43] which eventually became Atmel, and I
[01:01:44] would have been a co-founder at Atmel.
[01:01:47] And uh Floyd Kvamme took me out to
[01:01:50] lunch. He, as the chair, was basically
[01:01:53] working on talking me out of leaving
[01:01:56] Sandisk and talking me out of starting
[01:01:58] that company, Atmel. Ultimately, I did
[01:02:01] not join Atmel, did not start it. Um
[01:02:06] but Floyd Kvamme figured out that my
[01:02:09] wife was at the time in India, and he
[01:02:12] said he can arrange for me, with the
[01:02:16] company TEAC, to go work in Europe and
[01:02:21] have have my wife be able to come to
[01:02:23] Europe, you know,
[01:02:25] to join me there.
[01:02:26] And I pounced on that opportunity, and
[01:02:30] because, you know, the two of us could
[01:02:32] lead our early times of the married life
[01:02:35] together, rather than me being here in
[01:02:37] US and she being in India while she was
[01:02:39] waiting for her green card. So, we chose
[01:02:41] to go to London, and she was able to get
[01:02:44] her
[01:02:46] permit to come to London, and I worked
[01:02:49] as European Applications Engineering
[01:02:51] Manager
[01:02:53] uh for about a year for TEAC. And I
[01:02:56] really thank Floy- Floyd Kvamme
[01:02:59] um because uh going from an engineer,
[01:03:03] which I was at the time,
[01:03:05] to a responsibility for applications
[01:03:08] engineering, where I the chips that I
[01:03:10] had designed, I was seeing what were the
[01:03:13] kind of challenges my customers were
[01:03:15] facing in terms of their own
[01:03:17] applications. I learned a lot about the
[01:03:20] customer side of things, about the
[01:03:22] application side of things in that one
[01:03:25] year period, and it really truly made me
[01:03:28] realize how important customer is. That
[01:03:31] you cannot develop technology or
[01:03:33] products in void. You have to work
[01:03:37] closely with customers. So, I have to
[01:03:39] say that that one year experience when
[01:03:41] we were newly married, thanks to Floyd
[01:03:43] Kwami,
[01:03:45] uh was an amazing experience of us being
[01:03:47] together in the first year of our
[01:03:49] marriage in Europe, but it also was an
[01:03:52] amazing experience for me uh
[01:03:55] appreciating the value of customer
[01:03:58] focus, which we today uh call one of our
[01:04:01] core values at Micron as well.
[01:04:03] Okay.
[01:04:04] And what is the one or two things that
[01:04:06] she's taught you about partnership that
[01:04:08] that you see bleeding over into your
[01:04:10] work life?
[01:04:11] Uh you know, in terms of partnership,
[01:04:13] she definitely taught me that uh
[01:04:15] sometimes uh before rushing into saying
[01:04:18] something,
[01:04:19] just think a little, even if it is few
[01:04:21] seconds before you say it, because
[01:04:23] otherwise sometimes you can say
[01:04:25] something that you just regret. And, you
[01:04:27] know, that's something she has
[01:04:29] definitely taught me uh to
[01:04:32] uh think uh before you necessarily blurt
[01:04:36] out uh response, right? Uh that has been
[01:04:39] extremely absolutely extremely helpful,
[01:04:42] particularly in, you know, certain
[01:04:44] challenging situations. Um also
[01:04:48] um
[01:04:49] I'll share with you a funny story. I
[01:04:51] mean, one of the first interviews that I
[01:04:52] ever did
[01:04:54] was at CNBC way back. I mean, um
[01:04:58] this is sometime in
[01:05:00] 2000s timeframe. I can't remember the
[01:05:02] exact year. It was Squawk on the Box.
[01:05:04] And that interview had occurred very
[01:05:06] early in the morning, like
[01:05:08] uh maybe 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
[01:05:12] Uh first interview, so obviously nervous
[01:05:14] on national TV.
[01:05:16] And uh,
[01:05:18] you know, she of course was watching
[01:05:20] from home, you know, my first ever CNBC
[01:05:23] interview. I come back home and you
[01:05:25] know, she is has a blanket over her head
[01:05:28] and she just uh, quietly says that you
[01:05:31] have a very nice smile, use it more
[01:05:33] often. You know, and that has just
[01:05:35] stayed with me. That has just stayed
[01:05:37] with me because obviously in that
[01:05:39] interview I was tense, I was not uh,
[01:05:41] smiling and that has just stayed with me
[01:05:44] in every situation and sometimes in
[01:05:48] meetings or in particularly public
[01:05:51] speaking situations, that importance of
[01:05:55] um, being at ease and and that smiling,
[01:05:59] how important that is. You know, just
[01:06:01] what it communicates to the rest of the
[01:06:03] audience and how it helps you build that
[01:06:04] rapport. So, yes, I mean, she has been
[01:06:07] uh, a tremendous coach for me.
[01:06:09] And you do have a great smile.
[01:06:10] So, you also raised two daughters who
[01:06:13] became engineers, so bravo on that.
[01:06:16] Um, tell me how that they view your
[01:06:19] success in your career.
[01:06:21] You know, for the longest time, uh, you
[01:06:23] know,
[01:06:24] they had not realized that, you know,
[01:06:25] their dad was an important
[01:06:28] uh, executive in the technology industry
[01:06:31] and which is all good because, you know,
[01:06:32] our focus was always raising our family,
[01:06:35] being in the family and keeping work,
[01:06:39] you know, really separate from uh, you
[01:06:41] know, family interactions. Even though I
[01:06:43] was traveling a lot, but I would
[01:06:44] absolutely try my best uh, to even
[01:06:46] sometimes call my kids on the phone uh,
[01:06:50] if they would needed some help with some
[01:06:52] homework. You know, I remember my older
[01:06:54] daughter, she was in high school, needed
[01:06:56] some or maybe eighth grade and needed
[01:06:58] some um, help with linear alge- algebra
[01:07:01] and I was on the phone with her, you
[01:07:04] know, trying to work out the problem.
[01:07:05] So, I have even when I'm traveling, I
[01:07:07] have tried uh, to absolutely stay as
[01:07:10] close to the family and always
[01:07:12] through daily calls and conversations
[01:07:14] with the kids
[01:07:15] always tried to be there. So, as far as
[01:07:18] my
[01:07:20] two daughters go, extremely proud of
[01:07:22] them and you know, they have grown with
[01:07:24] tremendous values that I absolutely
[01:07:28] credit my wife you know, with respect to
[01:07:30] giving them
[01:07:31] the core values which I'm very proud of
[01:07:34] for them as well. And they have pursued
[01:07:37] their passions, but yes, they both have
[01:07:39] ended up becoming
[01:07:43] engineers.
[01:07:44] And they're both in product management
[01:07:46] in the tech industry today.
[01:07:48] So, did you play the same sort of poetic
[01:07:51] role that your father played in your
[01:07:53] life? Do you think you played in their
[01:07:54] life?
[01:07:55] I mean definitely very much focused on
[01:07:57] education as well and absolutely made
[01:07:59] sure that my both my daughters
[01:08:02] understood that education was important
[01:08:04] and you know, shared with them that how
[01:08:06] education helped
[01:08:09] my own career and you know, and for us
[01:08:13] to be where we are that education
[01:08:15] absolutely was key there. So, yes, I
[01:08:18] mean just like my
[01:08:20] parents emphasized education, I
[01:08:22] definitely emphasized education to my
[01:08:24] kids. Perhaps one difference would be
[01:08:27] that uh
[01:08:28] you know, particularly you know, with
[01:08:30] the kids growing up here in the US, I
[01:08:32] mean you have to recognize that it's not
[01:08:34] just about academics. It is also about
[01:08:36] extracurriculars and you know, our kids
[01:08:39] you know, definitely pursued their
[01:08:41] passions in areas outside of academics
[01:08:44] as well and they still do to this day
[01:08:47] pursue their passions and
[01:08:50] in that regard somewhat different than
[01:08:52] my own
[01:08:53] upbringing and
[01:08:56] also
[01:08:57] you know, let them choose their own
[01:08:58] careers. My older daughter
[01:09:01] when she went to college, she thought
[01:09:02] she is going to be a pre-med. Uh but
[01:09:04] very quickly in the first year or two,
[01:09:06] she actually gravitated gravitated
[01:09:08] toward in engineering. My younger
[01:09:11] daughter, she thought she is going to be
[01:09:13] more toward public policy, but very
[01:09:16] quickly she too
[01:09:17] Okay.
[01:09:17] you know, gravitated toward engineering
[01:09:19] when in college.
[01:09:20] Okay. Very nice. Very nice.
[01:09:23] So, I'm going to end on a question and
[01:09:25] just ask you, you know, what would
[01:09:27] people miss about who you are as a
[01:09:30] person if they just looked at your
[01:09:31] resume?
[01:09:33] Couple of things I would say here. You
[01:09:35] know, one thing, very funny thing that
[01:09:37] one time I had met um
[01:09:40] a CEO
[01:09:42] in the semiconductor industry who's
[01:09:44] still a CEO at semiconductor industry.
[01:09:47] When I met him for the first time, you
[01:09:50] know, he said to me, "Uh boy, I had an
[01:09:53] image of
[01:09:55] a very tall person."
[01:09:57] And it's just funny that, you know,
[01:10:00] looking at my background, you know,
[01:10:02] looking at
[01:10:04] um
[01:10:04] my resume,
[01:10:06] he was expecting a tall person. So,
[01:10:08] people wouldn't see in my resume that
[01:10:10] I'm actually short, right? So, that's
[01:10:12] just a funny side of it.
[01:10:14] Um
[01:10:15] but also I don't think if they would
[01:10:17] look at my resume, they would know that
[01:10:21] um
[01:10:21] how much I love my family. And uh my
[01:10:25] kids, my daughters mean the world to me.
[01:10:28] I'm very proud of them. And my wife has
[01:10:31] been absolutely the rock in my life. And
[01:10:34] now the grandkids.
[01:10:35] Yes. Two? And one on the way?
[01:10:38] granddaughters and a third granddaughter
[01:10:40] on the way. And the two granddaughters
[01:10:43] are 3 years old and 3 months old.
[01:10:45] Yeah.
[01:10:45] And on the two different coasts. But you
[01:10:48] know, they bring out the kid in me. And
[01:10:51] you know, when I'm with the 3-year-old
[01:10:54] um
[01:10:55] I play like a little kid and she
[01:10:56] absolutely thinks that, you know,
[01:10:59] whether it's going on the slides or it's
[01:11:00] going on the swing or getting inside a
[01:11:02] little tent to read a book to her, she
[01:11:04] absolutely thinks that I am a
[01:11:06] three-year-old, too. And this is
[01:11:08] something people would not realize when
[01:11:10] they look at my resume.
[01:11:11] Right. Right. Well, I'm glad I got to
[01:11:13] know you a little better and I'm sure
[01:11:15] that our audience is going to be
[01:11:17] thrilled to know the personal story
[01:11:19] behind your success. So, thank you,
[01:11:21] Sanjay.
[01:11:22] Jordyn, I really enjoyed this and, you
[01:11:24] know, thank you for covering so many
[01:11:26] topics and taking me back to my
[01:11:27] childhood years as well as, you know,
[01:11:30] discussing some of the most important
[01:11:32] aspects of our industry as well. Thank
[01:11:34] you for what you have been doing for the
[01:11:35] semiconductor industry for decades now.
[01:11:38] Have known you and really have
[01:11:39] appreciated on
[01:11:41] how you bring this industry together in
[01:11:44] some important, very important dialogues
[01:11:47] for our industry. Thank you.
[01:11:48] Thank you. Appreciate it.
[01:11:51] [music]
[01:12:21] Right.