Brooks Automation

Brooks Automation has been building the machinery that moves wafers through fabs since 1978. The company designs and manufactures precision robotics, vacuum systems, and contamination control solutions for the global semiconductor manufacturing industry - infrastructure that sits at the chokepoint of chip production. If the robotics fail or the clean environment is compromised, the line stops. That operational reality defines the threat surface: uptime is existential, and the attack vectors target the control systems governing factory automation at scale. The security challenge here is not abstract. Brooks operates across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, deploying integrated automation systems that handle wafers in both vacuum and atmospheric environments. These are OT-heavy environments where PLCs, SCADA interfaces, and proprietary firmware manage physical processes with zero tolerance for error. Protecting that stack - ensuring integrity of firmware updates, securing remote diagnostics, segmenting IT/OT boundaries - is the kind of work that doesn't make headlines but keeps fabs running. The company's technical domains span precision robotics, vacuum systems, factory automation, and contamination control, serving both semiconductor manufacturing and life sciences. The culture signals emphasize innovation and challenging the status quo through collaborative work, with core values centered on being world class, empowered, and accountable. For security engineers, this is a shop where the assets are physical, the protocols are niche, and the blast radius of a breach extends into the production of the chips everything else runs on.