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Applied Materials announced Mark Pinto’s planned departure in December 2012 as part of a reorganization that combined its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) and Display businesses. The company put the combined groups under Ali Salehpour, a former senior executive at KLA-Tencor. The contemporaneous report said Pinto would leave after a transition period; it did not give an exact departure date or describe the move as a firing.
Why was Mark Pinto leaving Applied Materials?
The planned departure was announced alongside a business-unit reorganization, rather than as a standalone change in the CTO role. Applied Materials said it was combining EES and Display under Salehpour. The company said mobility and clean-energy trends made the combination suitable for improving efficiencies and supporting customer roadmaps, including technology for large-area applications. EE Times reported the announcement on December 3, 2012.
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Applied chairman and CEO Mike Splinter praised the departing executives, saying, “Mark and Tom have made many valuable contributions to Applied Materials and have been great colleagues.” The report does not establish a more specific reason for Pinto’s individual departure.
Who was Mark Pinto at Applied Materials?
Pinto joined Applied Materials in 2004, after five years at Agere Systems. Before that, he spent 16 years at Bell Labs, where he rose to vice president and Fellow. At Applied, his senior positions included chief technology officer, vice president of the company’s China subsidiary, and chairman of its venture-capital arm. When the departure plan was announced, he was executive vice president and general manager of EES. EE Times’ account identifies these roles and his career history.
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What happened to Applied Materials’ solar and display businesses?
Applied combined EES and Display under Ali Salehpour, who joined the company as vice president and general manager of the combined groups after most recently serving as a senior vice president at KLA-Tencor. The company presented the move as a way to improve efficiency and serve customer technology roadmaps amid mobility and clean-energy trends—not as an announcement that either business was being shut down.
Tom Edman, then group vice president and general manager of Display, also planned to leave after a transition period. Edman had previously been CEO of Applied Films Corp., which Applied Materials acquired in 2006. The December 2012 report gives no exact final employment dates for either executive.
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Was Pinto fired, and who replaced him as CTO?
The report says Pinto intended to leave following a transition, but does not characterize the decision as a firing or state whether he resigned. It also does not name a successor to Pinto as CTO. The announced appointment of Salehpour was to lead the combined EES and Display groups; the report does not identify him as Pinto’s CTO successor.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the announcement does—and does not—establish
- Established: Pinto’s planned departure was announced as part of the EES–Display reorganization, with Salehpour leading the combined groups.
- Not stated in the report: Pinto’s exact exit date, severance terms, a quantified market reaction, or a named CTO successor.
Applied Materials’ current newsroom covers later technology and business developments, but those do not change the details established by the 2012 announcement. Applied Materials newsroom.
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