centrotherm international AG announced that at the suggestion of the Management Board and the new main shareholder Ardian Semiconductor, the Ulm Local Court appointed Dr. Helmut Gassel and Stefan Kappis as members of the Supervisory Board of centrotherm international AG with effect from January 15, 2026. At its constituent meeting on January 23, 2026, the Supervisory Board elected Dr. Helmut Gassel as Chairman and Stefan Kappis as Deputy Chairman of the Board. Robert M. Hartung will continue to serve on the Supervisory Board of centrotherm international AG.
As a result of the new shareholder structure, the previous Supervisory Board members Hans-Hasso Kersten and Dr. Xinan Jia resigned their seats with effect from December 17, 2025. Dr. Helmut Gassel is a partner and co-founder of Silian Partners, a team of recognized experts from the semiconductor industry with which Ardian Semiconductor has an exclusive strategic partnership. He has more than 30 years of international top management experience in the semiconductor and electronics industry.
Most recently, he was a member of the Executive Board of Infineon Technologies AG, responsible for sales, marketing & regions, strategy development, M&A, and IP. Stefan Kappis is a director in the buyout team at Ardian Germany and has been involved in numerous transactions. Before joining Ardian in 2014, he worked in investment banking at Barclays in the areas of corporate finance and M&A in Frankfurt am Main.
