Steven R. Appleton, chairman and chief executive of Micron Technology Inc. and one of the most prominent figures in the semiconductor industry, died Friday when the high-performance airplane he was piloting crashed at Boise, Idaho's airport.
The death of the 51-year-old stunned Micron, the well-known maker of memory chips based in the same city, and comes at a time of rapid change for the company and its industry.
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Close Associated PressSteve Appleton, in a 2005 photo, built Micron into a top competitor in a brutally competitive industry.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident, which happened soon after Mr. Appleton took off alone in a single-engine Lancair. The plane, from a maker of aircraft kits, had taken off and landed once and was leaving a second time when it crashed.
The plane was between 100 feet and 200 feet above the runway when, according to NTSB officials, it banked, potentially stalled and then rolled into the ground. Mr. Appleton was ejected from the plane and the aircraft caught fire, likely once it hit the ground, the officials said.
The plane's maker, Lancair International Inc., has sold about 2,100 aircraft over more than two decades. Its kit planes are known for their sleek designs, extensive use of composite materials and speed. Some models have flown in excess of 350 miles per hour.
Mr. Appleton was a stunt-plane flier who had survived a previous crash and also raced motorcycles, cars and off-road vehicles. He cut a maverick figure in the industry, guiding Micron through a turbulent battle against much larger Asian competitors in the boom-and-bust market for memory chips.
Micron is the last remaining U.S. competitor in an industry that American companies once dominated, showing a knack for endurance that earned Mr. Appleton the semiconductor industry's highest award in November.
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Close Idaho Statesman/Zuma PressThe high-performance plane crashed next to a runway at Boise Airport.
Unlike most semiconductor executives, who often start in engineering or technology marketing, Mr. Appleton began at Micron as a production worker in 1983. He rose through the corporate ranks to become president and chief operating officer in 1991, holding those titles for about a year before taking the helm of a Micron subsidiary. He was named CEO, president and chairman of the parent company in 1994.
He also endured a boardroom battle in 1996 that caused him to abruptly resign, only to return the same month, an incident later linked to a dispute with one director.
"We had kind of a lunatic board back them," said Mr. Appleton during a speech at an industry event in November on accepting the Semiconductor Industry Association's Robert N. Noyce award."I'm obviously an aggressive person," Mr. Appleton told The Wall Street Journal in 2006. "It is kind of a cliché, but I'd rather die living than die dying."
Mr. Appleton was a qualified stunt pilot whose many planes included a bright red Hawker Hunter fighter jet he bought from the Republic of Singapore Air Force in the 1990s. He sometimes flew it so low that the afterburners set fire to grass.He flew at air shows, performing loops, rolls, and inverted stalls at altitudes below 100 feet. He joked that the memory-chip business was more hazardous than flying.
In 2004, Mr. Appleton crashed a stunt plane in the Idaho desert after he performed a loop for a corporate video. His injuries included a broken back, a collapsed lung, torn cartilage throughout his sternum and a two-inch laceration on his forehead. But it wasn't long before he was back in action.
Mr. Appleton, who leaves his wife, Dalynn, and four children, credited his love of high-velocity sporting with helping him make snap business decisions.
"For me it is something like the movie 'The Matrix.' The DRAM [memory] business is like in slow motion in comparison to all the other things I do," he told the Business Times of Singapore in 2011.
He also was known for martial arts and tennis, which allowed him to attend Boise State University on a scholarship.
His death comes during a tough time for companies in the memory chip industry. Weak demand and cut prices and triggered losses at Micron and other companies.Most recently, stiff competition and the rising cost of improving chips has made it even harder for surviving makers of dynamic random-access memory, the chips known as DRAMs that are used to store data in personal computers and server systems. Mr. Appleton recently predicted that mergers and other consolidation in the industry were inevitable.
Micron has been working to diversify its operations, with more of its operations focusing on producing a type of memory used in smartphones and tablets, which are growing much faster than PCs. The company was planning to host an analyst conference next week to update investors on its strategy and current market conditions.
Friday's tragedy comes after President and Chief Operating Officer D. Mark Durcan last week said he will retire at the end of August, allowing Mark W. Adams, sales vice president, to succeed him. The company said Mr. Durcan became acting CEO on Friday. Its board of directors is due to meet over the weekend, a spokesman added.
Some analysts said Mr. Appleton's death is unlikely to slow the company's transformation. Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst Betsy Van Hees said Micron has a deep bench of capable managers. "Because of the strong organization Steve has built over the years, the company will be fine and will continue to prosper," Ms. Van Hees said.
Trading in its shares was halted at mid-day after rising 3% on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock was off 28 cents at $7.67 in after-hours trading on Friday.
While not expected to change Micron's strategy, analysts said Appleton's death could slow consolidation in its industry. There have been recent reports that struggling Japanese memory makerElpida Memory Inc. is seeking to team up with Micron and others. Micron has declined to comment on the matter.
"DRAM consolidation is likely still going to move ahead, but the loss of a key man in negotiations would slow it down," MKM Partners analyst Daniel Berenbaum said.
—Stephen Miller and Andy Pasztor contributed to this article.Write to Shara Tibken at shara.tibken@dowjones.com and Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications Steve Appleton became CEO, president and chairman of a Micron subsidiary in 1992, serving in that role until being named CEO, president and chairman of the parent company in 1994. An earlier version of this story failed to mention his stint at the subsidiary.
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