President
Soundside Partners
Wayne Johnson is President of Soundside Partners, a semiconductor-focused advisory and consulting firm he founded in January 2023. Wayne’s broad experience includes leadership of global R&D, product development, business development, sales, and marketing teams for publicly-listed companies. From 2019-2023, Wayne was Executive Vice President at IQE plc, a leading supplier of advanced wafer products, where he previously co-founded and led the Power Business Unit. From 2010-2015, Wayne led compound semiconductor materials development as VP of Technology at both IQE plc and Kopin Corporation. Previously, Wayne was an early employee at Nitronex Corporation where he helped develop and launch the world’s first commercially-available GaN/Si electronic devices.
Wayne received the BChE degree from Georgia Tech and PhD from the University of Florida, both in Chemical Engineering. Wayne has co-authored 3 book chapters, >200 journal articles and conference presentations, and he holds 20 US patents. He received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of Florida and currently serves on the UF Department of Chemical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board. Wayne’s visibility across the semiconductor industry has led to numerous requests for invited and plenary talks at international conferences and he received a Best Speaker Award from SEMICON China in 2017.
