Leadership
"AISemiCon envisions itself as the global leader in the semiconductor realm"
At AISemiCon, our leadership team is a powerhouse of industry veterans and seasoned professionals who bring unparalleled expertise in technology and management. With decades of experience under their belts, they foster an environment of excellence, ensuring seamless delivery, fostering innovation, and driving sustainable growth.
Our leaders are forward-thinking visionaries who always have their sights set on the horizon. They fearlessly explore new areas and embrace emerging opportunities, allowing us to stay at the forefront of the ever-evolving technology landscape. Their strategic guidance and astute decision-making propel us forward, propelling us to new heights of success.
Furthermore, our leadership team embodies a culture of continuous learning and development. They empower our employees to unleash their full potential, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment where ideas are nurtured and innovation flourishes. By nurturing talent and encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, our leaders inspire a collective drive towards pushing boundaries and achieving breakthroughs.
With their unwavering commitment to excellence, our leadership team steers AISemiCon towards a future of remarkable achievements, making us the preferred choice for customers and partners alike.
Mahendra Karanam, Chairman & Managing Director
Meet Mahendra Karanam, our visionary Chairman & Managing Director, a serial entrepreneur with 18+ years of VLSI design and a strong vision for geographically-driven ASIC designs and solutions. With a track record of leadership in marketing, product development, strategy, and general management at renowned companies like GlobalEdge, Rambus, Conexant, NXP Semiconductors, Teranetics, and MoSys, he embodies technical excellence and managerial prowess. Mahendra holds a Master's degree from IISc, Bangalore, and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communications. His remarkable insights and dedication drive our success.
Venkata Ranga Reddy S, Co-Founder & EVP Engineering
Introducing Venkata Ranga, Co-Founder and EVP ENGG of AISemiCon. With a Master's degree in Microelectronics & VLSI Design from IIT Madras, Venkata brings over 18 years of technical and leadership experience. He has held key roles at Aquantia, Conexant Systems, Cortina Systems, Intel, Marvel, and Rambus, honing his expertise in verification engineering and serving as a trusted point of contact for Fullchip & SoC functional verification. As the driving force behind our day-to-day technical activities, strategic planning, and business partnerships, Venkata is instrumental in our success.
Deepa Pandith, Founder and Director
Deepa Pandith is the visionary Founder and Director of AISemiCon. With a background in Engineering from VTU and 12 years of experience in the IC sector, she possesses both technical and entrepreneurial expertise. Throughout her career, she has held diverse technical positions, honing her skills and knowledge. In March 2021, Deepa founded Applied Intelligence Semiconductors Pvt Ltd, driven by the mission to establish it as a leading IC design company in India's Silicon Valley. Her passion for innovation and growth fuels AISemiCon's journey towards success.
Nagaraj Azhakesan, VP - Corporate Affairs
Nagaraj Azhakesan, our VP of Corporate Affairs, brings over 31 years of industry experience, including 14 years in corporate roles at renowned companies like Texas Instruments, Wipro Technologies, and Hughes Escorts. With an entrepreneurial spirit, he has co-founded and successfully exited two firms, while currently serving on the boards of two start-ups. Nagaraj's expertise spans semiconductors, IT, and software products, allowing him to effectively oversee crucial operations such as HR, legal, finance, compliance, and IT. His degree from Tirunelveli’s Govt College of Engineering further bolsters his knowledge and qualifications.
Prasad Mantri, CTO
Prasad our accomplished CTO, is a highly skilled professional with expertise in DFT architecture and over 25 years of experience in semiconductor design. He has worked on diverse projects, including automotive chips, HPC chiplets, microprocessors, and networking components. His contributions spanned from improving DFT and Yield for Sparc microprocessors to working on DFT for Nintendo 64 core chipsets. Prasad has co-authored conference papers, holds patents, and has worked with major semiconductor firms such as Sun Microsystems/Oracle, Micron Technologies, and Synopsys Inc. He was a DFT architect at Tessolve, leading the team and contributing to the VLSI digital design Center of Excellence. Prasad's industry involvement includes chairing the International Test Conference India and serving on the IEEE TTTC Test Technology Educational Program Committee. He also contributed to the ITRS Test technology roadmap and co-authored IEEE white papers.
Chandra Sekhar Mallela, VP – IP/SoC BU
Chandra Mallela has joined AISemiCon after a successful career of over 9 years at Intel, where he served, playing a vital role in the IPU division's billion-dollar journey from scratch, as the Director of the IPU-IP group that was instrumental in delivering accelerator NICs to Google clouds and data centers, . Prior to this, he worked as an Ethernet systems architect in the PSG group of Intel at Penang in Malaysia, where he worked on products with revenues of up to half a billion dollars. Chandra's key expertise lies in anticipating customers’ future-requirements, arriving at secure, power and area-efficient, and high-performing hardware architecture without spaghetti complexity yet standing the test of time. He believes in participatory management, techno-business vision, objective decision-making that benefits both team members and the organization, and in delivering results that drive up revenues. He holds 6 patents (4 granted so far) and has 17 publications to his name. He holds 4 Masters degrees, including one from IIT Madras (India) on Microelectronics and an MBA with specialization in strategy from Steinbeis University (Germany).
Saidulu Palvai, VP - Physical Design
Saidulu, the VP of Physical Design and Implementation, our visionary leader for physical design and implementation, spearheads strategic excellence in product implementation, foundry collaboration, IP hardening, and cost-effective SoC tapeout. With over 22 years of technical management experience at esteemed companies like Genesis Microchip, NatSem, Marvell, and Intel, he holds a Master's degree in Microelectronics from IISc, Bangalore. Throughout his illustrious career, he has led successful SoC implementations across a wide range of industries, including Consumer Electronics, Networking, Storage, Wireless chipsets, and Graphics processors.
Kiritkumar P, VP - Analog Design
Kiritkumar P, VP of Analog Design at AISemicon, is a seasoned senior executive with 23+ years of experience leading successful Analog Mixed-Signal and SoC design teams. With a strong background in semiconductor design leadership, Kirit brings extensive expertise in battery power management ICs, converters, LDOs, PLLs, DLLs, Hot Plug power ICs, ADC, OPAMPs, and other Analog components. He holds an M Tech from IIT Bombay and an MBA from Jack Welch Management Institute. Kirit is also the inventor of a patented technology called "Noise Immunity Circuitry for Phase Locked Loops and Delay Locked Loops."
Manohar C, IT - Head
Manohar C. S. holds a BCA degree and has over 25 years of expertise, with 19 years specifically in the VLSI business. He has received accolades such as OmniPHY's Leadership Award and NXP's appreciation for his contribution to the OmniPHY firm acquisition. With a track record of successfully building IT infrastructure and achieving results in companies like Prism Circuits, Mosys, and OmniPHY, he envisions AISemiCon as a prominent provider of high-quality goods and IP technologies for advanced SoCs in diverse applications.
Manujnath Pandith, CFO
Manjunath Pandith, a highly experienced CFO, brings over 40 years of expertise in accounting, fund management, equities research, and related fields. With a commerce major from the University of Mysore and retired as a joint director at Canara Ventures, he is now focused on enhancing Kalatronics' finance system and leading strategic fundraising initiatives for Kalatronics and AISemicon. His profound financial acumen ensures robust financial management and drives sustainable growth for both organizations.
Vedanth Reddy, COO
Vedantha Kumar Reddy, our COO, is a seasoned professional with 25+ years of cross-functional, technical, and managerial expertise in Defence, Bristlecone, and IBM. With dual master's degrees in business administration and computer applications, he is a valuable member of our senior management team. Vedantha leads and oversees various organizational operations and functions, bringing ambition, self-drive, diligence, and motivation to his role. He possesses strong work ethics, business acumen, diverse abilities, and excellent people skills.
