John O'Donnell - Founder & CEO, YieldHub

John O'Donnell is the Founder and CEO of yieldHUB, an award-winning provider of semiconductor yield management solutions. A native of Tralee, he graduated from UCC in 1987 with a BEng in Microelectronics and has spent nearly four decades in semiconductor test, beginning his career at Analog Devices in roles spanning Ireland, Silicon Valley, and Asia.

He founded yieldHUB in 2005 to solve a problem he had seen first-hand on the production floor: engineers cannot fix yield and manufacturing issues without timely, trusted data. He has also contributed to the development of automotive industry quality standards. Twenty-one years on, yieldHUB supports leading semiconductor manufacturers with advanced yield management across complex global supply chains.

Can you tell us a little about your career journey, from graduating at UCC to founding yieldHUB?

I began my career as a Test Engineer with Analog Devices (ADI) in Limerick in 1987. During my first few years, I helped bring several new products into production. I specialised in reducing test time and developed what would now be dcoescribed as a machine-learning or predictive-modelling library. The software modelled the linearity performance of DACs and ADCs, allowing us to perform only a subset of the available tests while still ensuring product quality, thus saving valuable test time.

That work also introduced me to the significant impact that yield and reliability have on the profitability of a semiconductor company. Over my 17 years with ADI, I managed teams, presented at both local and global ADI conferences, and had the opportunity to work with many remarkable people.

I had always wanted to establish my own company. By 2005, I had developed the vision and the combination of technical, commercial and managerial skills needed to take that step and found yieldHUB.

Was there a defining moment when you realised this could become something much bigger than an idea?

A few months after establishing the company, a large European semiconductor business asked me to find a way to detect production outliers automatically. I developed a solution during two days on-site and was very well compensated for the work.

The methodology was subsequently reflected in the automotive semiconductor standard AEC-Q001. More importantly for me at the time, the project provided strong commercial validation for one of the ideas behind yieldHUB.

I realised that the combination of test engineering, production data and statistics had enormous potential, and that even the world’s largest semiconductor companies did not yet have all the answers.

With nearly 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, what excites you most about the future of the sector?

The constant innovation continues to excite me, as does the genuinely international nature of the semiconductor ecosystem. It is an industry built on cooperation among companies, specialists and countries around the world.

Some expectations surrounding the AI boom may prove overblown, but the underlying technological shift is real. At the same time, the continuing electrification and digitalisation of practically everything is creating enormous opportunities for people and companies willing to put in the work.

What advice would you give today's engineering students who hope to build innovative careers or start-ups?

Learn as much as possible about a particular niche that genuinely interests you. Develop your people skills, build good relationships and help others whenever you can.

There will always be someone more talented than you, so remain humble. But talent alone is not enough: that person may not turn up every day. Turn up every day.

What's next for you and yieldHUB?

In recent years, we have concentrated heavily on growing in the United States and Asia. We are now expanding our European customer base further and look forward to helping more European companies manufacture semiconductor and photonics products, whether AI-related or not, as efficiently, reliably and profitably as possible.

Fondest memories from your time at UCC?

Playing soccer with my Elec Eng classmates on the all-weather pitch was always great craic. One year, we nearly beat Commerce (a much bigger class with multiple county footballers!).

I also remember:

• Crossing the Shakey Bridge at least twice a day during my first couple of years.

• Attending meetings of the Philosoph in first year and listening to eye-opening debates about issues and rights that are largely taken for granted today.

• Programming in Pascal on the mainframes beneath the Boole Library and competing to see who could solve matrix problems using the fewest lines of code.

• Trying to get our final-year laser project working, inspired by the then-newfangled CD player.

• The Engineering Ball, which was always a highlight.