Major executive shuffling at Applied Materials as solar segments combined

Applied Materials has made important changes to its organization and senior executive positions as Tom St. Dennis, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Applied’s Silicon Systems Group and its main source of revenue has resigned from the company, effective October 2, 2009. The main beneficiary within Applied’s corporate ranks would seem to be Randhir Thakur (pictured) as he will take over the running of the Silicon Systems Group. Thakur had only recently been tasked with running Applied’s SunFab thin film operations and was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Display and SunFab Solar Group.

A key change in the organizational structure of the company will see the merging of crystalline silicon and thin film sections into its existing Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) division. Thin film which was primarily the SunFab operations was previously aligned with the LCD flat panel arm, where much of the technology for thin film originated.

Mark Pinto has been given the role of running the EES division as Senior Vice President and General Manager but will also continue as CTO at Applied.

At Applied’s Global Services arm, Manfred Kerschbaum will assume the role of Chief of Staff, previously he had been Senior Vice President and General Manager of Applied Global Services (AGS).

Charlie Pappis, previously Corporate Vice President of AGS, will take over as General Manager of AGS.

On the sales side, Franz Janker takes on a new position as Executive Vice President, Corporate Account Management, targeting sales at major customers across divisions.

“Applied Materials has seen a tremendous transformation both in our business as well as in the industries we serve over the past several years. We have extended our leadership in semiconductor equipment to leadership in flat panel display equipment and, most recently, leadership in solar equipment,” said Mike Splinter, chairman and CEO of Applied Materials. “We must further evolve as a company in order to stay at the forefront of the industries where we compete and today’s announcement sets us firmly on that path.”