ASM Poaches KPN Finance Chief Chris Figee for CFO Seat

What does a semiconductor-equipment maker want from a telecom finance chief? ASM International is about to find out.

Europe's second-largest maker of chipmaking gear said on Monday it will nominate Chris Figee, the CFO of Dutch telecoms group KPN, as its next CFO.

It is a rare crossover, pulling a finance chief from the steady, regulated world of telecoms into the boom-and-bust cycle of semiconductor equipment, and one of the year's highest-profile European finance moves.

"I am delighted to welcome Chris Figee to ASM," says CEO Hichem M'Saad in the announcement. "His broad financial and strategic experience will be valuable as we continue to invest in innovation, our global footprint, and our people."

Telecom discipline meets the chip cycle

Chris has spent six years steering KPN, a business built on predictable subscriptions, fibre rollouts and dividends.

ASM lives in the volatile world of advanced chipmaking tools, where fortunes swing with every wave of industry spending. Picking a telecoms veteran over a semiconductor insider is a deliberate wager on leadership style over technical pedigree.

Over six years Chris delivered strong results and heavy investment in fibre and 5G, standing up ventures such as the Glaspoort fibre joint venture, the kind of long-horizon capital allocation ASM will recognise.

He also trades KPN's 15,000 staff for a leaner outfit that trails only ASML among Europe's chip-tool makers and competes with America's Applied Materials in atomic-layer deposition.

"It has been a privilege to serve as CFO of KPN," Chris says in the company's statement, promising to stay "fully committed over the coming months to ensure a smooth and orderly transition".

He departs KPN on 1 November and joins ASM a month later.

A slow, deliberate handover

Chris joins on 1 December as Executive Vice President for Special Projects, reporting to Hichem, an onboarding run before he formally takes the CFO role. Slotting an incoming CFO into a projects seat first, months before the shareholder vote, is an unusually patient handover for a listed company.

Shareholders vote on his appointment at an extraordinary meeting in March 2027. Only then does he replace Paul Verhagen.

Paul is retiring after a long run, reappointed in 2024 for one final two-year term. He stays on as CFO through the handover, steps down after the March vote and lingers in an advisory role. For a cyclical business, ASM wants continuity on the numbers, not a shock.

The outsider-CFO bet

ASM is backing a wider idea now moving through boardrooms, that a strong finance chief travels across industries better than the old wisdom allowed.

KPN's board was gracious about losing him. Chris "has made an important contribution to KPN's strategic objectives over the past years", says Gerard van de Aast, Chair of KPN's Supervisory Board, in the company's statement.

Whether utility discipline survives the chip cycle is the question that matters. ASM runs on around 5,000 people and lives at the mercy of capital-spending swings it cannot control, a volatility KPN's steady subscriptions never knew.

The company has ridden hot demand for advanced-chip tools, and its new finance chief must bankroll that growth without overreaching when the tide goes out.