Oct 15 (Reuters) – Super Micro on Thursday appointed former Western Digital executive Mark Long as its chief financial officer, nearly two years after kicking off a search for the role amid concerns over its financial and accounting practices.
The appointment, effective immediately, replaces David Weigand, who has been the company’s finance chief since early 2021. Weigand will “shift his focus to helping optimize and accelerate” the business, Super Micro said, without specifying his new role.
Long, who will report directly to Super Micro CEO Charles Liang, was CFO of Western Digital until 2019 and oversaw corporate strategy. He also co-founded technology-focused investment firm Prime Impact Capital.
In December 2024, Super Micro said it would search for a new CFO as part of recommendations from a third-party review of its accounting practices. The review came after the firm’s auditor at the time raised concerns about its governance, transparency and internal control over financial reporting.
The company’s accounting practices came under scrutiny in 2024 after short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged “accounting manipulation”, including undisclosed related-party transactions and export control failures, prompting the company to delay its annual financial filing.
In recent years, Super Micro has faced several legal and governance controversies. Most recently, Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a Super Micro contractor, pleaded guilty to four counts including conspiracy to violate US export controls, in a scheme to illegally export servers containing advanced Nvidia AI chips to China.
Demand for its servers has remained robust despite those issues. In August, the company forecast fiscal 2027 revenue of $65 billion to $72 billion, well above analysts’ average estimate of $52.50 billion, as customers keep ramping up AI data center spending.
(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Devika Syamnath)
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