KRIS BAXTER
THE MANUFACTURING INTERVIEW
T he memory inside of robots and cars cannot just be good enough. It needs to work every time to avoid potentially significant consequences. Guaranteeing that, at a scale of hundreds of thousands of wafers per week, is Kris Baxter’ s job. As Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Micron Technology’ s Automotive and Embedded Business Unit, he leads a US $ 15bn business that is inside some of the most demanding areas of modern manufacturing.
His division, known as the AEBU, supplies the memory and storage behind factory robots, critical infrastructure and automotive safety systems. Kris’ s teams support customers across a range of applications, from medical and networking to video security and consumer applications.
“ What happens inside our fabs ultimately determines what is possible across industries, from transportation and automation to healthcare and communications,” Kris says.“ I am blessed with two adult children and five grandchildren who mean the world to me, so it is very rewarding to be working alongside innovators across industries to define, develop and deliver the technology that enables a more intelligent and safer world and future for them.”
The journey so far Kris graduated from the University of California, Davis and spent the next 15 years as a lead designer of aerospace and defence systems. This experience
KRIS BAXTER
TITLE: CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER OF THE AUTOMOTIVE & EMBEDDED BUSINESS
COMPANY: MICRON TECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY: SEMICONDUCTORS HEADQUARTERS: IDAHO, US
A former aerospace and defence engineer, Kris Baxter now heads Micron’ s US $ 15bn Automotive and Embedded Business Unit, driving innovation in memory technology for industries including automotive, robotics and healthcare.
taught him to balance industryfirst innovation with cost-effective manufacturing and reliable, robust design. In 2000, he left the industry to pursue opportunities in the semiconductor industry at Intel. Kris says that being“ bold enough to take a risk and leave a successful career” to stretch himself is one of his proudest achievements. He says:“ It’ s been an interesting and non-traditional journey, one that I could not have mapped out when I started more than 40 years ago.”
A boss who challenged him to change roles regularly put Kris on what he feels was an unusual trajectory. He first learned manufacturing operations, then led a team managing high-volume manufacturing engineering, learning that
26 October 2026