Francis Cheng was hired as Asia-Pacific regional manager for Xsil International Ltd., a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of laser micromachining systems for high-volume manufacturing, the company announced today. Experienced in the fields of semiconductors and TFT-LCDs (thin-film transistor LCDs), Cheng completed several US and Taiwan patents during his engineer career, between 1991 and 1995. In 1996, he started his sales career in Taiwan, first for Spirox Corp. then for AiPC as sales director until he joined XSiL. In his previous positions, Francis acquired experience in conducting and managing businesses for capital equipment of front-end/advanced package processes and for masks of TFT-LCD/advanced package processes. He received a master's degree in engineering Masters in 1989 from the Institution of Electronics of the National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan. He will be based in Taiwan. Address: 13F, 31, Sheng-Li 5th Rd. Jhubei City, Hsinchu County 302, Taiwan; phone: (886-972) 100-865; e-mail: fcheng@xsil.com