NXP Semiconductors Executive Reelected Board Chair of Silicon Integration Initiative for 2023-2024

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pankaj Kukkal, executive vice president of MCU/MPU Engineering for NXP Semiconductors, has been elected to a second term as board chair at Silicon Integration Initiative. Si2 is an R&D joint venture that advances design solutions of leading semiconductor manufacturers, foundries, fabless companies, and EDA software providers.

Kukkal joined the Si2 board in 2020 to advocate for improved integrated circuit design tool interoperability and assumed the chair role in 2022. Before NXP, he held executive leadership and engineering positions at Qualcomm and Intel, and design engineering positions at startup Knowledge Based Silicon and Ricoh Electronics.

Kukkal earned a bachelor’s of technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India, and a master’s of science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of South Carolina, Columbia.

Members of the 2023-2024 Si2 board of directors and their committee affiliations are:

• Michael Jackson, corporate vice president, Research and Development, Cadence Design Systems, Si2 Executive Committee
• Richard Trihy, senior vice president, Design and Technology Enablement, GlobalFoundries, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee
• Roger Carpenter, hardware engineer, Google, Si2 Executive Committee
• Leon Stok, vice president, Electronic Design Automation, IBM, Si2 Executive Committee
• Rahul Goyal, vice president and general manager, Product and Design Ecosystem Enablement, Intel, Si2 Executive Committee
• Pankaj Kukkal, executive vice president of MCU/MPU Engineering, NXP Semiconductors, Si2 Executive Committee (chair)
• Lu Dai, senior director of Technical Standards, Qualcomm, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee (chair)
• Jung Yun Choi, corporate vice president, Electronics Design Technology Team, Samsung, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee
• Anant Adke, vice president of Engineering, Siemens EDA, Si2 Executive Committee
• Robert Aslett, president and CEO, Silicon Integration Initiative, Si2 Executive and Finance/Audit Committees
• Changho Do, vice president, Computer Aided Engineering Division, SK hynix, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee
• Jacob Avidan, senior vice president, Signoff and Silicon Innovations, Synopsys, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee
• Keith Green, distinguished member of the Technical Staff, Analog Technology Development, Texas Instruments, Si2 Finance/Audit Committee

About Si2

Silicon Integration Initiative provides standard interoperability solutions for the design of electronic systems. Si2 activities are conducted under the auspices of The National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, which defines R&D joint ventures and protects them against many federal antitrust laws. Si2 has over 65 members, including semiconductor and fabless manufacturers, foundries and EDA companies.

Primary Initiatives

• OpenAccess Coalition — supports one of the world's most widely used open-reference databases for IC design.
• Compact Model Coalition — funds, develops and optimizes standard compact SPICE models and interfaces.
• Unified Power Model Working Group — enables modeling consistency.
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Special Interest Group — identifies and enables best practices in AI/ML strategies for EDA.
• Technology Interoperability Trajectory Advisory CouNcil (TITAN) — identifies infrastructural gaps in design automation interoperability.