FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 3, 2025--
YES (Yield Engineering Systems), a leading provider of high-performance process solutions for the semiconductor Advanced Packaging market, today announced that Rezwan Lateef has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lateef previously served as President of YES and has been a key driver of the company’s significant growth, global expansion, and product innovation over the past several years.
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The transition marks a natural progression for the company as it surpasses a key revenue milestone and enters its next phase of scaling with top tier semiconductor and AI computing customers.
Rama Alapati, who has served as CEO since 2021, will step into a consulting role to support Mr. Lateef during the transition period and ensure strong organizational continuity.
“Rama has played an instrumental role in elevating YES from a promising technology company into a recognized leader in Advanced Packaging,” said Rezwan Lateef. “His commitment and leadership have been central to our transformation. I am grateful for his partnership, and I am pleased that he will continue to support me during this transition.”
Under Mr. Lateef’s leadership, YES will continue strengthening its relationships with industry-leading customers and advancing technology solutions for the rapidly growing AI and High-Performance Computing markets. The company’s strategic priorities include accelerating development of new systems for next-generation packaging architectures and expanding the innovative solutions that help customers meet the demands of the rapidly growing AI and High-Performance Computing markets.
“We are very bullish and remain highly confident in the future of YES,” said Nety Krishna, Senior Managing Director, representing KCK - the company’s primary investor. “The company has invested heavily in product development and is well positioned at key customers in the rapidly expanding segment of Advanced Packaging. This leadership transition reflects our long-term commitment to supporting YES through its next stage of growth.”
Mr. Lateef added, “YES has an exceptional team, an expanding global footprint, and a clear technology roadmap aligned with the needs of our customers. I look forward to leading this next chapter as we continue to scale, innovate, and increase the value we deliver to the industry.”
The leadership transition is effective immediately.
About YES
YES is a leading provider of differentiated technologies for materials and interface engineering. YES customers are market leaders, creating next generation solutions for a variety of markets including Advanced Packaging for AI and HPC, Memory Systems, and Life Sciences. YES is a leading manufacturer of state-of-the-art cost-effective high volume production equipment for semiconductor Advanced Packaging solutions for wafers and glass panels. The company’s products include Vacuum Cure, Coat & Anneal Tools, Fluxless Reflow tools, Thru Glass Via, Cavity Etch, and Electroless Deposition tools for the semiconductor industry. Headquartered in Fremont, California, YES has a growing global presence. Please visit YES.tech.
Rezwan Lateef, CEO of YES.
After decades of political maneuvering through Congress and government agencies, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina may finally achieve federal recognition through the National Defense Authorization Act the House plans to vote on this week.
If the legislation passes, the Senate could vote on final passage as soon as next week.
The Lumbee’s efforts to gain federal recognition — which would come with federal funding, access to resources like the Indian Health Service and the ability to take land into trust — have been controversial for many years both in Indian Country and in Washington. But their cause has been championed by President Donald Trump, who promised on the campaign trail last year to acknowledge the Lumbee as a tribal nation.
The issue of federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe has been batted around Congress for more than thirty years. But the political opportunity it represented in the last election could be what pushed it over the finish line, said Kevin Washburn, former assistant secretary of Indian Affairs at the Interior Department and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
“It comes up every four years because North Carolina is a battleground state and the Lumbee represent tens of thousands of people,” Washburn said.
The Lumbee Tribe has nearly 60,000 members, and both Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris promised the Lumbee federal recognition during the 2024 campaign. Trump won North Carolina by more than 3 points. Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to create a plan for federal recognition for the Lumbee.
It's the first time either the White House or the candidates for president have been so engaged in a federal recognition case, Washburn said.
Interior's plan was sent to the White House in April. The administration has denied requests for its release but has said it advised the Lumbee to continue trying to gain federal recognition through Congress.
The Lumbee were recognized by Congress in 1956, but that legislation denied them access to the same federal resources as tribal nations. As a result, their application for recognition was denied for consideration in the 1980s, and the Lumbee Tribe has tried to get Congress to acknowledge them in the decades since. The Office of Federal Acknowledgement is the federal agency that vets applications, although dozens of tribes have also gained recognition through legislation.
“Only Congress can for all time and for all purposes resolve this uncertainty,” Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery testified last month before the Senate Committee for Indian Affairs. “It is long past time to rectify the injustice it has inflicted on our tribe and our people.”
But others, including several tribal leaders, argue that the Lumbee's historic claims have shifted many times over the last century and that they have never been able to prove they descend from a tribal nation.
“A national defense bill is not the appropriate place to consider federal recognition, particularly for a group that has not met the historical and legal standards required of sovereign tribal nations,” said Michell Hicks, chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
The National Defense Authorization Act is usually a bipartisan bill that lays out the nation’s defense policies. But this year the vote has taken on a new political dynamic as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces mounting scrutiny over military strikes on boats off Venezuela’s coast.
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The story corrects the name of the Eastern Band chief to Michell Hicks, not Michelle.
FILE - Members of the Lumbee Tribe bow their heads in prayer during the BraveNation Powwow and Gather at UNC Pembroke, March 22, 2025, in Pembroke, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce, file)
