Karl Nicklaus
Karl Nicklaus (born June 4, 1937 in Weinfelden , Thurgau ) is a Swiss engineer and entrepreneur .
Life
Nicklaus grew up as the son of a master tailor in Thurgau. He enjoyed electronic devices early on, which he repaired whenever possible. He completed an apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic and trained as an electrical engineer. His first job brought him to Neuchâtel at FAVAG SA , a subsidiary of Hasler AG in Bern . At that time, FAVAG mainly manufactured relays for telephone exchanges. It was there in 1966 that Nicklaus developed devices for semiconductor production and then the first semiconductor circuits in the laboratory. As a result, FAVAG switched to the manufacture of semiconductor circuits and associated electromechanical components. In 1968 Nicklaus moved to the Swiss agency of Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) in the city of Zug . The US company K&S supplied wire bonding machines to the semiconductor industry. K&S closed the branch in Zug a short time later.
As a result, Nicklaus and a partner founded the European Semiconductor Equipment Center (ESEC) in Zug in 1968 . Initially, US manufacturers sold equipment to the European semiconductor industry. In-house developments followed, which, after initial difficulties, made Esec a major manufacturer of bonding machines with worldwide sales. From 1978 to 1983 Nicklaus was the sole owner of Esec. In 1983 Branco Weiss , another Swiss high-tech investor, bought in as a partner with a capital share of 40%, but left again in 1992. In 1994 Esec was listed on the Swiss stock exchange. The company grew thanks to new products and in 1997 had sales of 479 million Swiss francs. 1000 additional jobs were created within 6 years. In 2000, Nicklaus sold the majority of Esec's capital and votes to Oerlikon-Bührle Holding , making it one of the richest Swiss.
In 1996, Nicklaus bought a majority stake in Rolic AG , a research company that emerged from the liquid crystal display business of Hoffmann-La Roche AG in Basel. In 2017 Nicklaus sold Rolic to BASF in order to be able to better serve customers in Asia thanks to BASF's international organization. Further investments in Swiss technology companies followed. On the occasion of the award of an honorary doctorate by the University of Basel , the laudation said that Nicklaus was a pioneer of Switzerland as a technology location and also a visionary entrepreneur.
His other holdings include Interglass Technology AG and Wear-Lite AG for plastic glasses lenses, Kirsten Soldering AG for electromagnetic wave soldering machines , Aston Foods International AG for vacuum cooling systems in the baking industry and Stoppani AG for sophisticated high-tech contract development and production.
The business magazine Bilanz estimates his fortune at CHF 600–700 million.
Honors
- European SEMI Award, 1998
- Honorary doctorate (Dr. hc) from the Philosophical and Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Basel, 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Short biography of Karl Nicklaus. Rolic Technologies Ltd., Allschwil ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b c d Rainer Kyburz: Machines for the semiconductor industry - rise and fall of the high-tech company Esec. In: Franz Betschon , Stefan Betschon, Willy Schlachter (eds.): Engineers build Switzerland. First-hand history of technology. Volume 2. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-03823-912-3 , pp. 236–256
- ^ Website of Rolic Technologies Ltd.
- ↑ a b c Dieter Bachmann: A tinkerer with an eventful career. Basler Zeitung, December 1, 2012, p. 37
- ^ Article about Rolic Aargauer Zeitung, October 9, 2013
- ↑ Swiss technology for BASF. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 9, 2017, p. 26
- ^ Website of Interglass Technology AG
- ^ Website of Wear-Lite AG
- ↑ Kirsten Soldering - Home. In: www.kirsten-soldering.ch. Retrieved October 25, 2016 .
- ^ Website of the Stoppani AG
- ↑ List of the winners of the European Semiconductor Award
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nicklaus, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss electrical engineer and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 4, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Weinfelden , Thurgau |