PAKISTAN SEMICONDUCTOR
SUMMIT 2024
18th April, 2024
Islamabad, Pakistan
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The first of its kind, Pakistan Semiconductor Summit on IC chip design & manufacturing, hosted by GSME is bringing international & local experts together to support rapidly growing semiconductor market. The global semiconductor industry growth is projected to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030. Summit will be providing platform to Pakistanis & international companies to directly collaborate with ecosystem partners and with investors to ensure region is ready to become part of this fastest growing semiconductor market.

Who Should Attend ?

Local Semiconductor Start-ups, small to mid-size companies, academia, and decision makers looking to explore:

About Event

Pakistan Semiconductor Summit covers the essentials of semiconductor technology, including manufacturing, applications, explores emerging trends, data security, and work force development. It offers ample opportunities for networking and direct collaboration at the event pavilion. It is designed to be a well-rounded program that caters direct link between industry professionals to local talent and innovators.

Agenda

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Event Check In

8:00 AM – 8:45 AM

Networking & Tea

8:45 AM  9:00 AM

Event Seating

9:00 AM – 9:05 AM

Reading from the Quran

National Anthem

9:05 AM  9:40 AM

Welcome Address Farhat Jahangir

Video Presentation Jodi Shelton,

Global Semiconductor Alliance

Video Presentation Dr. Lucas Tsai,

TSMC

Video Presentation Jaswinder S.

Ahuja,

Corporate VP, International

Headquarters and India MD,

Cadence

9:40 AM  9:55 AM

Keynote Speaker

Opportunities for Semiconductor

Industry Amidst Global Challenges                                                           

Dr. Christine Tan, Chief Technical

Fellow, ICA Technology   

10:05 AM  10:15 AM 

Chief Guest

Mr. Attaullah Tarar, 

Federal Minister for Information 

and Broadcasting Islamabad

10:15 AM  10:30 AM 

Keynote Speaker

State of the Semiconductor

Ecosystem in Pakistan                                            

Dr. Sajid Baloch, Director General

NECOP

10:30 AM – 11:15 PM

Panel -1                                                          

The Role of Government in 

The Semiconductor Industry

Moderator                                                          

Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad,  

Director of Research & Licensing

Operations, STZA

Panelists:

Dr. Sajed Baloch, Director General,

NECOP

Dr. Mohsin Rahamtullaha, CARE

Mr. Zawar Hussain, Joint Electronics

Advisor/ Acting Director General, 

Ministry of Science & Technology 

(MoST)/ National Institute of

Electronics (NIE)

Mr. Jameel Qureshi, Secretary, 

SIFC – Sec Special Investment

Facilitation Council

11:15 AM – 11:25 AM

Keynote Speaker

Semiconductor Talent Development

in Pakistan

Dr. Sohail Naqvi, CEO, 

Knowledge Stream

11:30 AM – 12:22 PM

Panel -2

Building the Talent Pool                        

Moderator

Dr. Hammad Cheema, Professor &

Project Director NUST Chip Design 

Center (NCDC)

Panelists:

Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Knowledge Streams

Dr. Rashad Ramzan, FAST NU

Dr. Ali Ansari, UITU Karachi

Prof. Dr. Ahmed Shuja Syed, IIUI          

Dr. Abid Rafique, SEECS – NUST

12:22 PM – 12:55 PM

Video Presentation Simon Duxbury,

InnoPhase

12:25 PM – 12:30 PM 

Announcement VTT IC Design 

Center Launch

Rizwan Shoukat, Founder & CEO,

VTT Global (Pvt) Ltd

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Lunch, Prayer & Networking

1:30 PM – 1:40 PM

Video Presentation 

Christopher Thomas, 

Integrated Insights

Video Presentation 

Dr. Khurram Muhammad, 

MediaTek-USA                                  

1:40 PM – 1:55 PM  

Keynote Speaker                                    

Design Industry Outlook

Umar Mughal, CEO, Zenvio      

1:55 PM – 3:20 PM

Panel -3

IC Design & Services in Pakistan vs

International Market Demand

Moderator

Dr. Bilal Zafar, Co-Founder & CEO,

10xEngineers

Panelists:

Jiaming Yan, VP of SOC Design, 

Open Semi

Dr. Rehan Ahmed,

DreamBig Semiconductor

Jafar Safdar, CEO, 

Aql Tech Solutions (Pvt) Ltd

Dr. Muhammad Yasir Qadri,

Director in NECOP,

Dr. Arshad Riazuddin,

Principal Manager, Impare

Yasir Javed, CEO, Renzym

3:20 PM – 3:40 PM

Break Tea & Networking

3:40 PM – 3:55 PM 

Keynote Speaker

Open-Source Collaboration in the

Semiconductor Industry                                        

Florian Wohlrab, CEO, 

Open HW Group

3:55 PM – 4:10 PM 

Future Leaders Presentation

Dr. Hassan Saif, GF-METRC

Faizan Asad, Aql Tech Solutions

Fatima Saleem, 10xEngineers

4:10 PM – 4:13 PM 

Video Presentation, KH Lee, 

Faraday Taiwan

4:13 PM 4:50 PM

Panel -4

Manufacturing Services & Products

Moderator

Omer Malik, Co-Founder & COO

YieldWerx

Panelists:

Alex Chen, CEO & Founder, 

Open Semi

Farhat Jahangir, Founder & CEO,

GSME

Mobasher Yazdani, Group Manager,
Semiconductors and Passives,
  Google

 

4:50 PM – 4:55 PM 

Event Resolution and 

Action Item Review

Dr. Rashad Ramzan, FAST-NU

Dr. Hammad Cheema,

Dr. Bilal Zafar

Jafar Safdar

4:55 PM  5:00 PM

Closing Remarks Guest of Honor

Mr. Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan, 

Coordinator to Prime Minister 

of Pakistan on Implementation and

Monitoring

The Exhibitor Area will be open from

 9 AM until 5 PM

Our Partners

Welcome Address

Farhat Jahangir

Founder & CEO GSME

Jodi Shelton

CEO, Global Semiconductor Alliance

Lucas Tsai

Senior Director of Market Intelligence and Emerging Business Management, TSMC

K.H. Lee

VP of Sales, Faraday

Jaswinder S. Ahuja

Corporate VP, International Headquarters and India MD , Cadence

Dr. Khurram Muhammad

Sr. Director Strategic Technology Evaluation Platform, MediaTek

Simon Duxbury

Chief Product Officer, Innophase

Christopher Thomas

Chairman & Founder Integrated Insights

Chief Guest

Mr. Attaullah Tarar

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Islamabad

Guest Of Honor

Rana Ihsaan Afzal Kahn

Coordinator to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Implementation and Monitoring

Announcement - VTT IC Design Center Launch

Rizwan Shoukat

Founder & CEO, VTT Global (Pvt) Ltd

Keynote Speakers

Dr Christine Tan

Chief Technical Fellow, ICA Technology

Florian Wohlrab

CEO OpenHW Group

Dr. Sajid Baloch

Director General NECOP

Dr. Sohail Naqvi

CEO, Knowledge Stream

Umar Mughal

CEO, Zenvio

Panel 1: The role of Government in The Semiconductor Industry

Dr. Sajid Baloch

Director General NECOP

Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad

Director (Research Licensing Operations) at the Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA)

Dr. Mohsin Rahamtullaha

Co-founder, Director Business Development

Mr. Zawar Hussain

Joint electronics advisor

Mr. Jameel Qureshi

Secretary for the Special Investment Facilitation Council

Panel 2: Building the Talent Pool

Dr. Hammad M. Cheema

Professor & Project Director NUST Chip Design Center (NCDC)

Prof. Dr Ahmed Shuja Syed

Vice President of Research and Enterprise


Dr. Sohail Naqvi

CEO, Knowledge Stream

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal

Principal and Dean of the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Dr. Rashad Ramzan

Director of the ICD lab, CEO of Pi Invent

Dr. Ali Ansari

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering & Director ORIC

Panel 3: IC Design & Services in Pakistan vs. International Market Demand

Dr. Bilal Zafar

Co-Founder & CEO 10x Engineers

Dr. Muhammad Yasir Qadri

Director in NECOP

Jiaming Yan

VP SoC Design Open Semi

Dr. Arshad Riazuddin

Principal Manager at Imparé

Dr. Rehan Ahmed

Director Hardware Engineering

Yasir Javed

CEO Renzym

Jafar Safdar

CEO Aql Tech Solutions

Panel 4: Manufacturing Services & Products

Omar M. Malik

Co-Founder and COO YieldWrex

Alex Chen

CEO & Founder Open Semi

Farhat Jahangir

CEO & President GSME

Mobashar Yazdani

Sr Manager, Google

industry experts panel discussion

Top talent and seasoned experts will be delivering direct insight on manufacturing technology and trends. Experts will be available for live question and answer opportunities & to build direct collaboration.

Pakistan

1

B2030

Global think-tank fire round to explore how Pakistan can hit $1B revenue by 2030 by tapping into global semiconductor market through services, products, and plug-&-play talent.

Advanced Manufacturing

Emerging technologies in semiconductor manufacturing where foundries are performing back-end processes and their impact on evolving OSAT and test world will be discussed. You will also hear about the latest offerings at the fabs and OSATs.

Design Services

Advanced fabrication nodes and design complexity is forcing design houses to use 3rd party design & layout services to maintain their time to market targets. Learn the most up to date and reliable route out in the market available today. How Pakistani companies can get maximum benefit from this rapidly growing market.

Industry Direction & Trends

Global macroeconomic and geopolitical factors are emerging as the dominant forces shaping the semiconductor industry. Learn about the latest megatrends to align with Pakistani ecosystem executions.

GSME sponsored PAST EVENTS

DECEMBER 2023 EVENT

Thank You for Making Global Semiconductor Startup Forum 2023 a Resounding Success! A spectacular culmination of innovation, collaboration, and expertise — the inaugural Semiconductor Startup Forum hosted by GSME was a phenomenal journey!

Have any questions for our EVENT?

Please feel free to reach out for any clarifications or suggestions: 

Event Date & Time

18th April, 2024 at 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

info@paksemisummit.com

Location

HOSTED BY GSME

The first-of-its-kind, Pakistan Semiconductor Summit on chip design and manufacturing.

Powering New Generation Applications through Advanced Technology Solutions

Copyright 2024 | PAK SEMI SUMMIT | All Rights Reserved

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Registration

Attendee Registration Form

Registration is subject to approval from the PSS Team

Farhat Jahangir

Founder and CEO of GSME

Mr. Farhat Jahangir has over 25 years of hands-on experience As the Founder and CEO of GSME. He is recognized as a leading authority in product development, test methodologies, quality assurance, reliability enhancements, and supply chain optimization. In 2016, Farhat spearheaded Quantenna’s successful Initial Public Offering(IPO), a pivotal moment that laid the groundwork for the company’s subsequent acquisition by Onsemi in 2019 for an impressive $1.1 billion. Transitioning to Onsemi, he assumed the role of General Manager/Vice President of Manufacturing, where he adeptly managed the 300mm EFK Fab and oversaw a revenue line exceeding $2 billion. With a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, Mr.Farhat Jahangir commenced his career journey, steadily ascending the ranks through his unparalleled expertise and strategic acumen.(Mr. Farhat Jahangir is) A recognized industry leader, he is dedicated to driving innovation within semiconductor manufacturing, constantly pushing the boundaries of technological advancement. Mr.Jahangir’s commitment to nurturing talent and fostering growth is exemplified by his establishment of the GSME Oman office. Here, he pioneered the region’s first training program focused on semiconductor design and verification, with the vision of empowering youth to excel in the high-tech sector. He firmly believes that with proper training, young engineers can become instrumental in shaping the future of the semiconductor industry. Farhat Jahangir’s remarkable career trajectory and visionary leadership continue to shape the landscape of semiconductor manufacturing, leaving an indelible mark on the industry and inspiring future generations of technologists.

Jodi Shelton

Co-founder and CEO, Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA)

Jodi Shelton is the co-founder and CEO of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). A pioneer within the technology space, Shelton was instrumental in the creation of the Alliance and has continuously addressed global issues in the industry as the voice of its members. Under her leadership, GSA has grown its membership to include companies throughout the supply chain representing 300+ corporate members on six continents and established the GSA Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI). In her role as CEO, Shelton ensures that the Alliance remains focused on achieving its defined mission and goal to foster a more effective ecosystem through collaboration, integration and innovation. She is the key liaison between GSA and the business community at high-level financial and industry conferences, providing insight on key topics pertaining to the global semiconductor supply chain. Shelton also serves on several boards and holds advisory positions.
LUCAS TSAI

Senior Director of Market Intelligence and Emerging Business Management, TSMC

Lucas Tsai is Senior Director of Market Intelligence and Emerging Business Management at TSMC North America. He is responsible for new sales funnels, including VC backed startups, emerging system accounts, and Value-Chain-Aggregators (VCA) in North America region. He is instrumental in the revival of TSMC corporate venture. Over his 20 years with TSMC, he specialized in bridging foundry and OEM by developing multiple-billion-dollar foundry businesses with a major mobile OEM and later with another major cloud service provider. Lucas holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, M.S. and B.S., Electronic Engineering from National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan. Lucas was granted more than 20 US patents and has published more than 40 papers in technical journals and conferences.

K.H. Lee

VP of Sales, Faraday

Mr. K.H. Lee has focused on marketing and sales in semiconductor industry for more than score years. Joining in Faraday in 2019, he now is charge of Faraday’s global IP licensing business and ASIC business in USA. Prior to joining Faraday, Mr. Lee acted as Senior Director of Asia Sales at UMC.

Mr. Lee received his Bachelor and M.S. degree in physics from Tamkang University, Taiwan

Jaswinder Ahuja

Corporate VP, International Headquarters and India MD , Cadence

Jaswinder S. Ahuja is Corporate Vice President-International Headquarters and the Managing Director of Cadence Design Systems in India. He is responsible for leading and expanding Cadence’s International Headquarters in Ireland and provide oversight to Cadence’s International business strategy and operations. Jaswinder also leads Cadence’s Global Customer Support and Educational Services Business. Jaswinder started his career with Cadence in 1988 as a software engineer, he has led the India operations since 1996 and has assumed leadership of the International Headquarters in 2021. Cadence is a founding member of the VLSI Society of India (VSI) and Jaswinder served as its President from 2011 to 2018. He was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the VLSI Society of India in January 2018 to acknowledge his leadership and many noteworthy contributions to the semiconductor ecosystem in India. He has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IT-BHU. Jaswinder was Chairman of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) in 2008-09 and has also served as a member of the Executive Council several times. Currently, he serves on the Governing Council of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and is on the board of Electropreneur Park, the first ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) incubator in India. Jaswinder is also a mentor and advisor to several start-ups.

Dr. Khurram Muhammad

Sr. Director Strategic Technology Evaluation Platform, MediaTek

Khurram Muhammad(M’93–SM’09) received a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN in 1999 in electrical engineering. He has worked as a technology development leader in several companies for over 20years including MediaTek, Samsung Electronics, Phazr, Mstar Semiconductor, Blackberry and Texas Instruments. He is a Senior Director at MediaTek working in strategic technology evaluation group. He holds 90 patents and has published more than 80 papers in IEEE journals and conferences in the areas of VLSI, cellular and connectivity communications. He is an expert on System-on-chip design from baseband to RF frontends addressing communications and radar signal processing.

Prior, he was a Director at Samsung Research working on 6G communications topics leading an RF Systems team. He had been the VP of Hardware at a 5G startup Phazr in Allen, TX where he developed the widest portfolio of mmw  communication systems for fixed wireless access in addition to a small cell base station product for 5G. At MediaTek, he was a Technical Director driving advance development in 4G & radar systems and served as the Chief Architect for RF group in Mstar semiconductor for their cellular and connectivity products. At Blackberry, he helped developed an innovative SDR. He was a Distinguished Member of technical staff at Texas Instruments and a key developer of TI’s DRP(digital RF processing) Technology for over 10 years and led a design team for 2G and 3G DRP radios.

Simon Duxbury

Chief Product Officer, Innophase

Over 20 years of design & development experience covering digital, mix-signal, analog and RF products. Simon last worked at Onsemi as VP & GM of Quantenna Connectivity Division, where he was responsible for P&L of over $165M product line. Prior to Onsemi, Simon was SVP of Engineering at Quantenna communicates from its inception to IPO in 2016. later was sold to Onsemi in 2019. Simon holds BSEE from Yale University and MSEE from Stanford University.

Dr. Christine Tan

Chief Technical Fellow, ICA Technology

Dr. Tan is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology UK,with bachelors degree (First Class Hons) from Imperial College London and doctorate degreefrom Cornell University. With over 20 years experience in thesemiconductor industry, Dr. Tanhas held key leadership roles in deep-tech companies internationally, such as listed EDAcompany Semitronix Corporation, leading foundries Globalfoundries and CharteredSemiconductor, government-linked technology platform companies and startups

Florian Wohlrab

CEO OpenHW Group

Florian(Flo) Wohlrab is the CEO of OpenHW Group. OpenHWGroup is a not-for-profit, global organization where hardware and software designers collaborate in the development of open-source cores, related IP, tools and software. OpenHW provides an infrastructure for hosting high quality open-source HW developments in line with industry best practices. Members of OpenHW Group include semiconductor industry leaders like NXP, Siemens, Global Foundries, Redhat, and Thales Group. Before joining OpenHW Group, Florian worked as the Head of Sales for the EMEA and Japan region at Andes Technology Corporation, a Taiwan-based supplier of 32/64-bitembedded CPU and leader in RISC-V processors.

Dr. Sajid Baloch

Director General NECOP

Dr. Sajid Baloch is a prominent figure of Pakistan’s Semiconductor landscape. He hasbeen awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by President of Pakistanand EPSONUK award for his outstanding academic achievementsabroad.During his PhD, he workedwith NSA where he worked onImage processingChipfor ROVER project.He is memberof boardof governors of Special Technology Zone Authority and he is also member ofstreeting committee for National Centre for artificial Intelligence, Pakistan.Dr Baloch ispart of the 14member Prime Minister’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.Currently heis working as Director General at National Electronics Complex of Pakistan (NECOP). Hestated IC Design Center at NECOP and currently NECOPIC Design houseis the largestand the onlyIC Design Center at Pakistan Level coveringfull spectrum IC DesignflowfromDigitalto Analog Mixed SignaltoRF ICDesignandIP & SoCVerification.He hasan honor of developing Pakistan’s first vision chipfor imagematching application.DrBaloch is a visionary leader who startedfirst everMaster Level targeted IC designProgramin Pakistanat differentUniversities. He has30+ Years of experience in ChipDesign,Verification,Reconfigurablearchitectures,AI,Machine Learning formicroprocessors.Dr Sajid Baloch has been involved in research activities withdifferentrenownedinternationalinstitutionsnaming few,Cambridge University, UK, The Universityof Glasgow,Edinburgh University. DrBaloch has been part of the PASTA Project atEdinburgh University and LowRISC Project at Cambridge University, UK

Dr. Sohail Naqvi

CEO, Knowledge Stream

Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqviis co-founder and CEO of KnowledgeStreams (Private) Ltd.,a new enterprise focused on the training of professionalsleading to employment intheIT Industry. He recently completed his term offounding Rector of the University ofCentral Asia, that he had joinedinAug. 2018 upon completion of five-years as ViceChancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences where hehadspearheadedthe transition of this prestigious, primarily undergraduate, institution into the top rankedresearch universitiesof the country.Prior toLUMShe was the Executive Director of theHigher Education Commission(HEC) for eight years, where he oversaw implementationof an ambitious portfolio of programs that resulted ina transformation of the highereducation sector of Pakistan;as evidenced byan increasing number of Pakistaniuniversities being ranked among the top universities of the world today.He has extensiveteaching, research, consulting and entrepreneurial experience.His area of expertise issemiconductor metrology in which he holds numerous patents.In 2016hewas awardedthe Sitar-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan for his services to highereducationand in 2022 he was awardedthe “Best of Education” award by the Ministry of Educationand Science of the Kyrgyz Republic. In 2022 he was also given the lifetime achievementaward by the Pakistan Engineering Council

Umar Mughal

CEO, Zenvio

Umar is a seasoned Silicon Valley professional with over two decades of experience inthe high-tech industry, encompassing semiconductors, AI/ML, SaaS, and Cloudtechnologies. Beginning his career at Xilinx,he quickly established himself in variousroles within applications and marketing. Transitioning to Altera’s Product group, Umarplayed a pivotal role in product definition, launches, and line management, notablycontributing to the introduction of mid-range and SOC FPGA products. During histenure, he spearheaded the growth of Altera’s product line from $400 million to $1billion, showcasing his strategic leadership and market insights.At Intel, Umar ran a $1 billion business, overseeing diverse sectorssuch as Video,Industrial, Consumer, Medical, and Military. Leading a team of over 400 peopleworldwide in a matrix organization, his adept team-building skills and strategic acumenwere instrumental in driving business growth and fostering strong relationships withpartners and customers. He was recognized for his ability to turn around businesses togrowth, build strong teams, and deliver concrete results, resulting in double-digit growthacross all sectors.Umar’s expertise extends beyond hardware intothe realm of AI/ML. He completed aspecialized course at MIT, further enhancing his understanding and application of thesetransformative technologies. Leveraging his comprehensive skill set, Umar adviseshigh-tech startups globally, providing strategic guidance in emerging fields such asAI/ML, SaaS, and Cloud computing. He advises startups on product strategy, businessdevelopment, marketing, and corporate strategy. For enterprises, he provides guidanceon how to incorporate AI into their workflows without compromising productivity, cost,and risk.Additionally, Umar consulted with MediaTek’s Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) on thediversification of their business into industrial IoT, contributing valuable insights andstrategies to enhance their market presence and innovation. He holds a Bachelor’sdegree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University

Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad

Director (Research & Licensing Operations) at the Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA)

Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad is the Director (Research & Licensing Operations) at the Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA). He has been serving in STZA since May 2021 and is responsible for technology research and evaluation, market intelligence, and licensing operations. Prior to this role, he worked at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) from 2016-2021 in the capacities of Assistant Professor, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, and later as Director Research, NUST. He is still affiliated with NUST in the capacity of an Adjunct Faculty for academic research and supervision purposes. Dr. Mohammad worked as a Post doctoral fellow at the Institute of Microelectronics in Tsinghua University, China, from 2013-2016 and did his BSc (2008) and PhD (2013) both from the University of Alberta, Canada, in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His specialization and research interests revolve around micro-and nanofabrication technologies, micro-and nano-devices development, flexible electronics, and molecular dynamics simulations. He has won several national and international research grants valued in tens of millions of PKR, granted a design patent from Pakistan patent office, as well as authored over 50 research publications and a similar number of visiting & invited international conference presentations. He has also contributed significantly to the drafting of Pakistan’s Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Policy 2022–an effort led by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).

Dr. Mohsin Rahamtullaha

Co-founder, Senior Member Technical & Director Business Development

Dr. Mohsin brings over two decades of comprehensive expertise in Communication, Network Centric Systems, R&D, and Process Improvement to the table. With a solid foundation in project management and a certification as a Project Management Professional(PMP), he has played pivotal roles in the success stories of renowned organizations like CARE Pvt. Ltd and Avaz Networks Inc. His leadership has resulted in groundbreaking achievements, including the development of the first Network Centric Warfare System and the delivery of high-performance media processing SoCs. Dr. Mohsin’s commitment to excellence is evident through his track record of delivering innovative solutions and his involvement in continuous process improvement initiatives. With a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and a wealth of patents and publications to his name, Dr. Mohsin is a visionary leader driving technological advancement and organizational growth.

Zawar Hussain

Joint electronics advisor

Mr Zawar Hussain studied at Islamia college Peshawar did masters in electronics from Peshawar university. Worked as lecturer at Peshawar university. Worked in the industry for few years. Worked as lecturer at government college Peshawar. Joined ministry of science and technology in 2007 as deputy electronics advisor and now working as joint electronics advisor

Mr. Jameel Qureshi

Secretary for the Special Investment Facilitation Council

Jameel Qureshi is a highly accomplished senior government official from Pakistan, boasting a wealth of experience across various sectors and international landscapes, including prominent roles within commercial and business membership organizations such as Panasonic, NEC, and BlackBerry. Currently serving in a key position as Secretary for the Special Investment Facilitation Council at the Prime Minister’s Office in Pakistan, he has demonstrated strong leadership throughout his career, including significant roles within the Board of Investment and the Ministry of Science & Technology. With a background in Telecommunications Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan, Jameel Qureshi brings a unique blend of expertise and global perspective to his current role.

Dr. Hammad M. Cheema

Professor & Project Director NUST Chip Design Center (NCDC)

Dr. Hammad M. Cheema is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Principal & Dean School ofInterdisciplinary Engineering & Sciences (SINES) at National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST),Islamabad. He is also heading the NUST Chip Design Centre(NCDC) which is a national level initiative tosupport the semiconductor ecosystem of the country through capacity building of engineering graduates,chip design R&D and providing support to universities and industries. He has more than 14 years ofteaching and research experience in Analog & RF Integrated Circuit Design having published books on 60GHz CMOS PLLs and On-Chip Antennas, more than 80 peer reviewed publications and 12 granted /pending patents.

Prof. Dr Ahmed Shuja Syed

Vice President of Research and Enterprise

Engr. Prof. Dr Ahmed Shuja Syed is the Vice President (Research and Enterprise) at International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad, Pakistan. Earlier he served as the Vice President (Academics)at IIUI. He is also the Founding Executive Director, Centre for Advanced Electronics & Photovoltaic Engineering (CAEPE) and Principal Investigator of Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia’s Funded International Research Grants, namely, Advanced Electronics Laboratories Project and Photovoltaic Energy Engineering Labs. He remained the Proponent & Focal Point of United States Department of Energy’s Users Facility Access Agreement with International Islamic University and Govt. of Pakistan’s PSDP support grant to the Centre. Prof. Shuja has recently been elected as a Fellow of Energy Institute (FEI), incorporated by the Royal Charter, UK. Prof. Shuja is also Visiting Professor at James Watt School of Engineering at University of Glasgow, UK. Prof. Shuja holds MS and Ph.D. in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Sweden and UK; respectively. Besides serving abroad during his professional career; he previously remained the Dean of Faculty of Engineering & Technology at IIU, Islamabad and ExecutiveDirector of Centre for Emerging Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Islamabad. Currently; He is also the Member Board of Governors of various universities in Pakistan as well as Life-time Member of Pakistan Engineering Council. Dr. Shuja developed a pioneering teaching and research program, in Pakistan, in the area of Advanced Electronics in 2007. Dr. Shuja’s research group studies the engineering of circuits, devices & systems for next-generation electronics/optoelectronics, sensing, energy and photonics applications with cross-disciplinary convergence. The Centre, originated and developed by Dr. Shuja is home to over 550 scientific projects with world-class research facilities including Pakistan’s first Class-100 clean room facility for the development of micron-and sub-micron devices. Dr. Shuja instituted and chaired several international conferences and national workshops in Pakistan and had been a plenary/keynote speaker in numerous national and international conferences and colloquia. Dr. Shuja has led tangible projects developing both physical and academic infrastructures, facilities, departments, faculty, centres etc. covering the financial, strategic and planning aspects. With a track record of winning several competitive projects funded both on national and international level; Dr. Shuja has supervised over 100 graduate (MS and PhD) students and published over 130 international research communications including the book chapters and impact-factor journal papers. Dr. Shuja is also a member of various national level fora and has a track record of working closely with national and international bodies for the initiation, approval, execution and accreditation of institutions, academic and research programs, and devising the policies and strategies in the Science and Technology arena. Besides several other high level national committees; being part of the National Steering Committee on Pakistan Science Foundation’s PSDP projects as well as Department of S&T of KPK Government; Dr. Shuja played an active role in defining the future directions of S&T funding and creation of impactful knowledge in Pakistan

Dr. Muhammad Ajmal

Principal and Dean of the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan is a graduate of Michigan State University. Presently, he serves as the Principal and Dean of the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, overseeing its strategic direction and academic programs. With extensive experience in both the aviation industry and academia, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his role. His expertise spans across various areas, with a focus on MEMS, microelectronics fabrication, and the synthesis of nano-sensors.

Dr Rashad Ramzan

Director of the ICD lab, CEO of Pi Invent

Rashad Ramzan (S’04–M’09–SM’11) is a highly accomplished professional in electronics engineering. He holds a B.Sc. degree from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, an M.Sc. degree from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and a Ph.D. degree from Linkoping University, Sweden. Throughout his career, Rashad has been involved in research and development in industry and academia. He has authored over 70 journals & conference papers and holds 15 US patents. He has worked in various research and development positions in Pakistan, USA, Germany, Sweden, and South Africa. One of his designed Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) was published in ISSCC2007. He has received two best paper awards and two chancellor innovation awards. In 2018, he founded an IC Design (ICD) lab and initiated the first MS IC Design Program in Pakistan, with 43 graduate students currently enrolled. Currently, he is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, Director of the ICD lab, and CEO of Pi Invent, a company specializing in 5G/6G IC design technologies and physical layer security. His research interests include Analog & Mixed Circuit IC Design, RFIC Design,5G/6G Radio Circuits, VLSI Design

Dr. Ali Ansari

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering & Director ORIC

Ali Ahmed is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director ORIC at Usman Institute of Technology University (UITU), Karachi. He is leading Micro Electronics Research Laboratory (MERL) at UIT University. He has a 15 years of experience in building digital IPs using FPGAs and Micro-controllers. His current broader research interests are in computer architecture, cache coherent interconnect, open-source chip designing. He is especially interested in micro-architecture, with a major current focus on memory and storage systems. He is also consulting semiconductor companies on building talent pipeline in front-end (design and verification) and back-end(physical) design. His team of Undergraduate students taped-out nine microchip in Google Open Shuttle, and also the first Pakistani to tape-out completely opensource RISC-V based Processor. His organization MERL-UITU is also the host organization, for the last three years, in Google Summer of Code and also Linux Foundation mentorship program (LFX). Total 24 UG students of his team had gone thorough Paid internship from GSoC and LFX.

Dr. Bilal Zafar

Co-Founder & CEO 10x Engineers

Bilal Zafar is the co-founder & CEO of 10xEngineers, a design & verification services company based in Lahore, Pakistan. 10xEngineers specialized in design and verification of RISC-V processors, IPs and SoCs, and image processors hardware. Started in 2021,10xEngineers today has a team of 80 engineers. 10xEngineers is a RISC-V International Development Partner and is the first official RISC-V Lab Partner. Previously, Dr. Zafar was Principal Engineer at Qualcomm, where he co-led a world-wide team of about 60 engineers working on developing custom & semi custom IPs. He holds an PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a BSc in Electronics Engineering from the GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology.

Dr. Yasir Qadri

Director at National Electronics Complex of Pakistan (NECOP)

Dr. Muhammad Yasir Qadri has obtained his PhD in Electronic Systems Engineering from University of Essex, UK. He has over twenty years of industrial experience in the development of high-end embedded systems, FPGA based designs, and Microprocessor Design. He is currently leading dedicated teams in Microprocessor Design and IC Failure Analysis. He is an Approved PhD Supervisor by the Higher Education commission of Pakistan, and is currently working as Director at National Electronics Complex of Pakistan (NECOP), Pakistan. He is the editor of a book on Multicore Technology by CRC Press, USA, and has a US patent granted in the area of computer architecture. He is the recipient of several research grants from renowned national organizations such as Ignite National Technology Fund, and HEC Technology Development Fund respectively for projects in the area of computer architecture.
His area of specialization is hardware security, microprocessor design, IC design, and IC
Characterization and Failure Analysis

Jiaming Yan

VP of SOC Design

15 years working experience in Physical Design. Worked as the Physical Design Team head for ChinaTier-1 Product Company to lead various foundry process node design from 40nm to 7nm.In charge of most powerful Kirin 7nm/10nm AP series complex design. Great project engagement and team management skill. Before joined Open-Semi, Jiaming worked for JLQ as Physical Design team head, Hisilicon as Physical Design team manager, AMD as Physical design team head

Dr. Arshad Riaz-ud-din

Principal Manager at Imparé

Dr. Arshad Riaz-ud-din  is currently Principal Manager at Imparé. Arshad’s leadership experience extends to developing and managing semiconductor design centers. He has technical experience in developing intellectual property for memory and security subsystems.

Dr. Rehan Ahmed

Director Hardware Engineering

Dr. Rehan Ahmed is the Director of Hardware Engineering at Dream Big Semiconductor, where he leads the dynamic teams responsible for front-end and physical designs spread across the globe, including Silicon Valley, CA

Yasir Javed

CEO of Renzym

Yasir Javed is the CEO of Renzym, a hardware design services company with expertise in signal processing algorithm development, FPGA-based designs and embedded system development. Yasir has 20+ years of industry experience in digital hardware design. Projects he has led or contributed to include hardware implementation of real-time compute-intensive machine learning algorithms for Face Detection & Recognition (Facenet and MT-CNN), integration of TCP offload engine with PCIe Gen3, DDR and HBM memories with Intilop and developing die-to-die interface for a RISC-V CPU. In addition, Yasir’s courses on Digital Logic Design, Digital System Design, and Computer Architecture have been viewed 100s of thousands of times.

Jafar Safdar

CEO Aql Tech Solutions (Pvt) Ltd

30years of semiconductor industry leadership and management experience. Focus areas are SoC/ASIC, IP development, EDA and offshore design services. 25years’ experience in ASIC and IP tool methodologies at 7/5nm and IP and supporting global semiconductor companies. Design, applications, product development and ASIC services management experience at Synopsys and Socionext, based in California, USA. In Pakistan founded and co-founded two companies in ASIC/IP development and design services. CEO at Aql Tech Solutions a RISC-V based startup in Islamabad working closely with a USA based company. Pakistan R&D team is designing a range of customizable processor core IP’s for applications such as datacenters, storage, automotive, edge, wearables, etc. Aql Tech Solution specializes in RTL design, advanced verification, physical design and signoff. Very passionate about developing semiconductor ecosystem in Pakistan, actively working with leading universities and key stakeholders. MS EE from California State University Northridge, CA, USA

Omar M. Malik

Co-Founder and COO of YieldWerx

Omar has over 23 years of experience in software products and technology consulting. As Co-Founder and COO of yieldWerx, he leads yieldWerx’s growth into new markets, and the execution of new business development initiatives. He has an MBA from INSEAD France and BSc in Finance from Georgetown University

Alex Chen

CEO and Founder Open-Semi

As the leader of ASIC chip design industry, helped several well-known unicorn autonomous driving and AI chip companies in China from design to mass production and delivery. With more than 15 years of design and management experience in multinational chip companies, made efforts and persistence for the rise of domestic chips. Before found Open-Semi, Alex worked for Sifive as Senior Director of China Business, Socionext as Director of Business Development, Synopsys as Senior Technical Consultor and TSMC as IP Design Engineer.

Mobashar Yazdani

Sr. Manager, Google

Mobashar has been involved in the Semiconductor design and manufacturing industry for over 30 years. He has been part of the OPEN organization (Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America) for promoting entrepreneurship for over20years. He has held various positions including President and Chairman of the OPEN Board. Mobashar started as a custom design engineer in Hewlett Packard and subsequently managed its ASIC/ASSP Technology center. This organization was responsible for evaluating and negotiating semiconductor design and development resources for over 50 designs a year. Currently he is a Sr. Manager at Google where he manages a wide portfolio of semiconductor ICs