Grit Sommer

Dr. Grit Sommer is the Regional Managing Director of imec Germany, a position she has held since July 2026. With almost three decades of experience in the semiconductor industry, she is recognized as a strategic technology leader, transformative executive, and accomplished people manager, combining deep technical expertise with a strong track record of building high-performing global organizations. Prior to joining imec, Dr. Sommer spent 20 years with Infineon Technologies, where she held a series of international leadership positions across Germany and Singapore. Most recently, she served as Senior Director Global Product Engineering Digitalization, leading the digital transformation of end-to-end product engineering across a global network of manufacturing and R&D sites. In this role, she drove the adoption of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, enabling significant improvements in product development efficiency, yield optimization, and quality management. Throughout her career, Dr. Sommer has successfully led multicultural teams across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, managing organizations with of up to 50 experts and influencing more than 1,000 employees worldwide. Her expertise spans semiconductor technology, advanced packaging, product engineering, manufacturing excellence, digitalization, and innovation management. She has consistently delivered business impact through strategic program leadership, operational excellence initiatives, and technology-enabled transformation. Before her tenure at Infineon, Dr. Sommer held research and leadership roles at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM), where she established and led advanced RF modelling and simulation activities and managed numerous industry and publicly funded research programs. Dr. Sommer holds a PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from TU Berlin, specializing in RF modelling and design optimization. She also earned her Engineering Degree (Diplom-Ingenieur) in Electrical Engineering from TU Berlin with distinction. In addition to her executive responsibilities, she has served as a board member supporting the strategic development of Fraunhofer IZM and has contributed to industry governance and leadership selection processes. Driven by curiosity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset, Dr. Sommer is passionate about advancing semiconductor technologies and strengthening Germany's role in the global microelectronics ecosystem.