Goodbye Letter To Employees

It’s 2:30 in the afternoon on August 17, my last official day at Cypress. After packing my stuff, I realized there were goodbyes to write. So, this won’t be a typical “TJ memo,” revised 10 times, logical and filled with fact-checked data; it will be more stream-of-consciousness in style. 

In a way, writing this memo is like talking to your wife of 34 years, while she’s on her deathbed. What do you say? I’ve enjoyed being with you? We’ve done a lot of good things together? There are really no appropriate words. 

But, perhaps there are. In the 1970 movie Patton, as the General leaves his command, he says, “Gentlemen, all good things must come to an end. And the best thing that has happened to me in my life has been the honor and privilege of commanding the 3rd Army. Goodbye, and God bless you.” This is the way I feel about Cypress. 

We have a lot to be proud of. Cypress was founded in December 1982, when there were 59 publically traded American chip companies. Today, only 15 of them are left—and we are one of the 15. That statement applies to every Cypress employee, whether you came from old Cypress, Spansion, Fujitsu, Broadcom or Ramtron. Each of us has made it in the industry for a long time; we all now fight together under one flag; and we’re all still around because we’ve earned the right to be. In an industry where corporate death is more common than life, we’ve had more than our fair share of victories. Indeed, the future for Cypress is as bright today as it has ever been—and we’ve created that opportunity.