In 1983, after finishing his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering in China, Howard Yang headed to the United States to attend graduate school. He had applied to only two universities, both of which accepted him. One was in the desert southwest and the other was Oregon State.
“In China at that time, not a lot was known about the American higher education system, so I didn’t have a lot of information for making a decision,” Yang said. “But I prefer a rainy climate to a hot and dry one, and that’s really the main reason why I picked Oregon State. It turned out to be a great choice.”
Dealing with the new culture wasn’t overly difficult, but it took some adjusting. He recalls asking a fellow student how to use a vending machine, and the prominence of the country’s car culture stood in stark contrast to China’s nascent highway system.
“Most people rode bicycles,” Yang said.
He adapted quickly and spent the next six years in Corvallis.
“I really loved my time at Oregon State,” he said. “I was just a typical student leading a simple but interesting life. I had outstanding teachers, I explored some of Oregon’s beautiful places, and occasionally I accompanied my professors to conferences to present papers.”
The most difficult change, in fact, was turning away from his original dream of becoming a physicist. But after taking several physics courses, Yang realized he wasn’t suited for the field, so he switched to electrical engineering.
“From that experience, I learned that it’s OK if your big plans don’t all work out perfectly. It’s not the end of the world, and you can still do great things,” Yang said. “So here I am, an engineer, and I think things have gone quite well.”
After earning his doctorate in 1990, he joined National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, California, where he worked on the design and development of integrated circuits. In 1994, Yang sensed opportunities in China, whose high-tech industry was still in its infancy. He became one of the first integrated circuit designers to return to China from Silicon Valley. The risky choice exemplified his natural, forward- looking business acumen.
After Yang arrived in his native country, he became the head of new product development for the integrated circuit maker Shanghai Belling. Then in 1997, he co-founded Newave Semiconductor Corp., the first venture capital-funded company in China, which merged with an American company in 2001.
In 2004, Yang co-founded Montage Technology, which grew into a world-class data processing and integrated circuit design company under his leadership. Montage chips are used primarily in data centers to support data transfer between CPUs and computer memory.
“They’re data delivery chips. Whenever cell phones or PCs connect to data centers, our chips run in the background and make it possible for data to be exchanged and to complete the connections,” Yang said. “We help billions of people around the world communicate with each other. It’s not a fancy product, but it’s an essential part of the global network.”
According to Yang, the company has about 40% of the worldwide market share in its product category. The company employs about 700 people and has a market capitalization of about $10 billion. In 2019, Montage held its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Yang’s many awards include the 2023 Chinese Mainland Ernst & Young Global Limited Entrepreneur of the Year. And in 2022, he reached the status of Life Fellow with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in recognition of his many years of outstanding contributions to integrated circuit design.
Yang credits the College of Engineering for helping him lay down a solid career foundation, and he singles out his doctoral advisor, David Allstot, formerly a professor of electrical and computer engineering, for the profound impact he had on Yang’s life. “He’s a wonderful professor,” Yang said. “He didn’t just stick to the technical side of engineering; he also helped his students understand what the industry was really like. He helped us prepare for the workforce and advised us about the attitude we would need to get ahead. He even helped us fine tune presentations about our work. I still benefit from some of those extra lessons. He really cared about his students, and he taught us how to be successful.”
Degrees
- M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1987
- PH.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1989