Career Biography

Zi Yao joined Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (K&S) in December 2020 and was appointed as Senior Director, Legal Affairs, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in July 2024. Prior to joining K&S, Zi Yao held corporate counsel roles at Sumitomo Chemical Asia and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Zi Yao started his legal career with Rodyk & Davidson (now Dentons Rodyk), focusing on M&A, securities, and corporate law. Mr. Lim has a Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore and was admitted to the Law Society of Singapore in 2013. In May 2025, he was nominated as a Young Lawyer of the Year (in-house) in the Southeast Asia Region by Asian Legal Business.

What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

As General Counsel of Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc., I have led high-impact legal outcomes across multiple jurisdictions, including favourable dispute resolutions and a major cross-border acquisition that expanded our advanced manufacturing capabilities.

At 38, as the youngest member of the Executive Leadership Team, I play a pivotal role in shaping our Tech and AI governance strategy. I co-developed a global AI roadmap that integrates legal, ethical, and operational priorities, ensuring responsible deployment and enterprise-wide alignment. I also continue to strengthen our Cybersecurity and AI risk posture by embedding legal guardrails into product development and compliance frameworks.

Within the legal function, I have championed digital transformation through lean management and automation. This includes launching a global Legal Self-Service Portal and integrating Lean Six Sigma principles to enhance efficiency, reduce variability, and elevate service delivery across our global operations.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

In periods of instability, legal leadership must shift from reactive risk management to proactive resilience-building. I take a structured approach that positions the legal function as both a stabiliser and strategic partner.

This means embedding legal foresight into crisis planning, enabling agile governance, and ensuring contractual and regulatory adaptability. By providing counsel into strategic decision-making at an early stage, companies can safeguard compliance, preserve trust, and emerge stronger.

The legal function becomes not just a shield but a stabilising force that guides the organisation through uncertainty with clarity, control, and confidence.

We are currently living through a time of geopolitical change, and the world order that we have come to take for granted for many years is being rewritten. Does this affect your company’s risk profile and, if so, what are you doing to mitigate this? 

As a NASDAQ-listed semiconductor and electronics assembly provider operating globally, we face heightened exposure to geopolitical shifts, trade regulation changes, and expanding export controls. 

To mitigate these risks, we integrate legal strategy into operational planning. By leveraging on scenario analysis, real-time regulatory monitoring, internal knowledge systems, and targeted advocacy, this multi-faceted approach enables us to maintain compliance, navigate complexity, and ensure business continuity.

In today’s BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible) environment, legal leadership must be agile, data-informed, and deeply embedded in enterprise risk management. Our approach not only safeguards operations but positions the company to thrive amid macroeconomic transformation.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Legal leaders today are not just gatekeepers but strategic catalysts driving resilience, innovation, and ethical leadership. Success, especially in the age of AI, lies in aligning legal strategy with enterprise goals, which requires deep business engagement and a clear understanding of risks, opportunities, and strategic direction.

Efficiency is not merely about speed but requires strategic clarity and operational discipline. For instance, I have championed the use of Hoshin Planning process to align department priorities with enterprise goals, ensuring compliance and innovation across the organisation.

An agile, commercially attuned legal team that is embedded in the business is best positioned to deliver consistent value, navigate complexity, and lead with purpose in a rapidly evolving global landscape.