Tom Sharpe, SMT Corporation
Abstract: In 2014 China announced its aggressive plan to become a global leader in the manufacturing of Semiconductor devices. Due to their inherent complexity FPGA’s have been the most difficult device type to develop and mass produce. It is beginning to appear China may have turned a corner on this long-term coveted goal.
Bio: Tom is the Executive Vice President of SMT Corporation located in Connecticut. Founded in 1995, SMT maintains the one of the largest inventories of obsolete & DMS-type electronic components as well as the largest in-house testing services within the Independent Distribution sector. SMT's labs are credited with the initial identification and industry-sharing of several counterfeit processes over the past several years as well as developing the required mitigation inspections to reliably detect these new counterfeiting methods.
In addition to his longtime membership with ERAI Tom served 9 years on the board of directors of the IDEA and 2 consecutive terms as IDEA Vice President. He is a member of the Aerospace Industry Association's (AIA) Counterfeit Parts IPT and SAE G-19 committees.
In 2011 Tom was requested to provide subject-matter-expert testimony before the formal Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on counterfeit electronic components within DoD supply chains. As part of this investigation the GAO chose SMT's lab facilities to provide all authentication and forensic analysis on behalf of the SASC investigation.
Tom is very active on the Electronics Industry speaking tour and has become the leading voice from the independent sector in the fight against counterfeit components in the electronics industry. Tom's presentations serve to educate all sectors of the electronics industry about the growing dangers of counterfeits in today's market and best practices to reliably detect and mitigate these constantly evolving dangers.
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