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The Electronic System Design Alliance (ESDA), a SEMI Technology Coalition, appointed Ankur Gupta, Executive Vice President, IC Portfolio, Siemens EDA, Siemens Digital Industries Software, and Dr. Walden “Wally” C. Rhines, CEO and Director of Silvaco, to its 10-member Governing Council. ESDA also welcomed two new member companies, startups ChipAgents and Rydev.
“Ankur and Wally are welcome additions to our Governing Council who join executives from member companies whose role is to guide the ESD Alliance and its initiatives,” said Julie Rogers, Executive Director of ESDA. “In addition, we are pleased to support two emerging companies, ChipAgents and Rydev, as the newest members of ESDA. We look forward to their contributions and participation as we continue building our momentum and standing as the industry’s foremost emerging company networking hub.”
“ESDA drives the design ecosystem and plays a significant role as the center of electronic system design,” said Rhines. “Every company, startup, mid-size or large enterprise that considers itself to be part of the design ecosystem must be part of an organization’s membership that opens the door to a world of technology coalitions and member-driven initiatives.”
“Siemens fully supports the ESDA’s many and varied initiatives that focus on technical, marketing, economic and legislative issues affecting member companies and the entire industry,” said Gupta. “I welcome the opportunity to work with other governing council members and contribute to the ESDA’s success now and in the future.”
The Governing Council
Gupta and Dr. Rhines join Governing Council Co-Chairs Maheen Hamid, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Breker Verification Systems, and John Kibarian, President, CEO, Director, and Co-Founder of PDF Solutions.
Other members of the 10-member Governing Council are: Rogers; Aart de Geus, Executive Chairman and Founder of Synopsys; Anirudh Devgan, President and CEO of Cadence Design Systems; Niels Faché, Vice President and General Manager from Keysight; Aki Fujimura, Chairman and CEO of D2S; and Prakash Narain, President and CEO at Real Intent.
As Executive Vice President of Siemens EDA’s IC Portfolio, Gupta and his global team are responsible for developing and marketing best-in-class EDA solutions for the semiconductor industry, including Siemens’ comprehensive portfolio of IC design, verification, and manufacturing solutions. He brings more than 20 years of experience in design, implementation and signoff. He oversaw several deployments of an RTL2GDS solution, while at Cadence. Later, at Ansys, he oversaw the launch and deployment of a market leading digital power-grid signoff product.
Dr. Rhines has served as CEO of Silvaco since August 2025, and as a member of its board of directors since September 2022. He is also currently an advisor to ChipAgents, is former President and Chief Executive Officer of Mentor Graphics Corporation, and a member of the EDA Consortium (EDAC, now ESDA) until Mentor was acquired by Siemens in 2017. He founded its Market Statistics Service (MSS), now known as the Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD), and has served as Executive Sponsor since its inception in 1994. Dr. Rhines is also the 2015 recipient of the Phil Kaufman Award that honors individuals showing demonstrable impact on electronic design through contributions in the field of Electronic System Design. Dr. Rhines received a B.S.E. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University, and a M.B.A. from the Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business.
New Member Companies
Entrepreneurial startups ChipAgents and Rydev value the ESDA and its member benefits, especially as the industry expands into the agentic AI era that will set the tone for the future of chip design.
“Joining the ESD Alliance reflects ChipAgents’ commitment to advancing agentic AI in semiconductor engineering,” said William Wang, CEO and Founder, ChipAgents. “ESDA brings together the companies shaping the future of electronic system design, including EDA vendors, IP providers, semiconductor companies, and research institutions. As agentic AI reshapes every layer of this ecosystem, ChipAgents aims to contribute its expertise to the standards, frameworks, and best practices that will define the next era of semiconductor design.”
“By joining the ESD Alliance, Rydev has integrated our cutting-edge engineering directly into the global semiconductor ecosystem, a strategic move intended to significantly increase the added value to our clients across the globe,” said Alfonso Chacón Rodríguez, CEO, Rydev. “This membership ensures our methodologies and services are aligned with the latest industry standard procedures, foundry constraints and interoperability standards long before tape-out. For our customers, this means absolute design certainty, reduced time-to-market and the peace of mind that they are collaborating with a vetted, forward-thinking partner who sits at the same table as global semiconductor leaders to actively shape the future of chip design. For us, it means a step to ensure our ‘first-silicon’ philosophy is actively engaged in every project and deliverable.”
