Thomas Sonderman

Chief Executive Officer SkyWater Technology

Last Reviewed: September 25, 2026

Executive Summary

Thomas Sonderman is Chief Executive Officer of SkyWater Technology, the Minnesota-based semiconductor foundry that IonQ acquired on 31 July 2026. He has led SkyWater since October 2017, first as President of SkyWater Technology Foundry and from December 2020 as CEO of the parent company, and took it public on Nasdaq in April 2021. Under IonQ the foundry keeps its name and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, with Sonderman leading it and reporting to IonQ Chairman and CEO Niccolo de Masi. He is a manufacturing executive by background: before SkyWater he held senior roles at AMD, GlobalFoundries and Rudolph Technologies.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of SkyWater Technology, an IonQ company, since the acquisition closed on 31 July 2026; he signed the closing 8-K as CEO of the surviving SkyWater Technology, LLC.
• Chief Executive Officer of SkyWater Technology, Inc. from December 2020, and a director from October 2020 until the company merged into IonQ.
• President of SkyWater Technology Foundry from October 2017, and President of the listed parent from December 2020 to September 2023.
• Led SkyWater’s initial public offering in April 2021.
• Vice President and General Manager of the Integrated Solutions Group at Rudolph Technologies, January 2014 to October 2017.
• Vice President of Manufacturing at GlobalFoundries from February 2009, after serving on the AMD executive team that spun off its manufacturing operations to create GlobalFoundries.
• Named author of 50 patents, according to SkyWater.

Professional Journey

Sonderman’s career has been spent inside semiconductor fabs. At AMD he was part of the executive team that separated the company’s manufacturing operations into what became GlobalFoundries, and from February 2009 he was GlobalFoundries’ Vice President of Manufacturing, overseeing the spinout from AMD. In January 2014 he moved to Rudolph Technologies, a semiconductor company, as Vice President and General Manager of its Integrated Solutions Group, the integrated hardware and software business unit, where SkyWater’s proxy says he was responsible for “delivering predictable profitability”. Rudolph later merged with Nanometrics to form Onto Innovation.

He left Rudolph in October 2017 to become President of SkyWater Technology Foundry, the Bloomington, Minnesota fab. He joined the board of the new holding company, SkyWater Technology, Inc., in October 2020 and became its CEO and President that December. In April 2021 he led the company’s initial public offering on Nasdaq. SkyWater describes its business under his leadership as a move from an integrated device manufacturer to a pure-play foundry. It calls itself the largest exclusively U.S.-based semiconductor foundry, with facilities in Minnesota, Florida and Texas, and it focuses on foundational nodes and advanced packaging. He held the President title until September 2023 and kept the CEO role; the 2026 proxy names John Sakamoto as President and Chief Operating Officer.

On 25 January 2026 SkyWater agreed to be acquired by IonQ, the quantum computing company. The deal closed on 31 July 2026. SkyWater shareholders received $15.00 in cash and 0.4883 IonQ shares per share, the eight other directors resigned, and SkyWater Technology, Inc. merged into a wholly owned IonQ subsidiary, SkyWater Technology, LLC. The stock was delisted from Nasdaq and the company deregistered with the SEC in August. Both companies said that SkyWater would continue to operate under its own name, with Sonderman leading it and reporting to de Masi. Sonderman said at the closing that joining IonQ “marks a pivotal moment in SkyWater’s evolution” as quantum computing “shifts from research to manufacturing”.

He is a member of the SEMI Fab Owners Association and the Global Semiconductor Alliance.

Education

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering

National Technological University

Master of Science, Electrical Engineering