Micron
Technology chairman and CEO Steve Appleton apparently died in a plane crash at
the Boise airport Feb. 3. He was 51 years old, and had served as CEO of the
company for more than 20 years.
According to
the Associated Press, he was the only one in the fixed-wing plane, which an
airport spokesperson said was a kit-built Lancair.
“Steve’s
passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and
the technology industry at large,” read a note posted on Micron’s corporate Website
Feb. 3. “The company expects to provide additional information later today.”
Appleton was
known for flying small planes, sometimes at air shows, and at one point owned a
small fleet that included two Hawker Hunter jets, a Cessna and a Stearman
biplane. In July 2004 he sustained significant injuries from a crash in the
Idaho desert. In addition, he also raced cars (at one point winning the 20-car
Baja Challenge Class of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000) and, at one point in his
life, motor-cross bikes.
According to
the Associated Press, questions had been raised over the years about whether
the chief executive of a major company should freely participate in high-risk
activities.
Boise-based
Micron, which manufactures flash memory and solid-state drives, had been in the
midst of some aggressive moves. On Jan. 20, the company announced it would acquire
the assets of privately held Virtensys, a provider of PCIe-sharing
virtualization software. Terms were not disclosed.
As a major
semiconductor company, Micron has fabrication facilities in a number of
locations worldwide, from Boise to Singapore. It also maintains a joint venture
with Intel, under which its NAND Flash products end up in the latter’s host
processors. Rivals include Samsung, Western Digital, SanDisk, Toshiba, and
Seagate.
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