VICKRAM VATHULYA EPIC EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
In this article, Ivan Nikitski , EPIC’s Technology Manager for Quantum and PICs, talks to Vickram Vathulya , CEO of Sivers Semiconductors, a US based manufacturer of millimetre-wave beamformers and RFICs for SATCOM, 5G and defence, and high-performance lasers for AI data centres. VICKRAM VATHULYA EPIC EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
What’s the background to your appointment as CEO at Sivers Semiconductors? After completing a B Tech in Electronics & Communications at the Indian Institute of Technology
Where are your main customers?
the microelectronics division of Cubic Corporation (a PE owned conglomerate), as their President, I got recruited for the CEO role at Sivers Semiconductors, a NASDAQ listed small-cap company in Sweden, where they were looking for a strong leader to take the company through the next stages of its growth lifecycle.
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As regards the AI data centre market, all the key players are pretty much in the US. For
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SATCOM, again the biggest opportunities are in the US, but there’s also a sizable market in Europe. As for defence SATCOM, in many cases, the US comes up with the lead technology deployments and then the other NATO countries follow. For example, one of our European customers is ALL.SPACE in the UK, who support the US military.
in Madras in 1995, I got my PhD in Electrical Engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in 1999. Although I had a passion for high-tech engineering and innovation, while doing my PhD I discovered there were a lot of people cleverer than me at innovating and developing technology, so I had to find other ways that I could add value. Realising I had a penchant for business and business development, after my PhD, I successfully applied to Philips/NXP Semiconductors in San Francisco Bay Area, where I worked in various engineering & marketing positions, getting my first general manager role in 2003. I grew the WLAN and Connectivity business in mobile devices over the next 5 years until 2008. In 2009, I moved to Maxim Integrated where I successfully ran and profitably grew two businesses, namely Wireless and High- Performance Standard Products over 13 years. In 2021, Maxim got acquired by Analogue Devices, at which point I took a 12-month career break coaching and mentoring start-ups and to think about what I wanted to do next in my career. I realized my passion now was to help small companies become successful for the long-term. After a brief period running Nuvotronics,
How has Sivers developed?
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VV Sivers Semiconductors AB has 135 employees, and although the company had been around for a while, seriously business building didn’t start until the mid-2010s. While the company has been investigating and applying resources across multiple markets while developing its core technologies, the time has come to double down our efforts on specific markets with the most momentum backed by secular growth trends. On the photonics side, the whole focus now is on AI data centres - moving from connecting GPUs by copper to optics, and to make that transformation happen, we are developing the best precision lasers with the largest array sizes and power levels. On the wireless side, everybody is moving to increasingly higher frequencies for communication, but if you don’t shape the beam, a lot of spectrum and energy gets wasted. To address this issue, we deliver the highest efficiency and most compact beam formers with a focus on the SATCOM market.
What are your best-selling products?
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Historically, we have been a developer of custom solutions, for example, the beam formers
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we provide to ALL.SPACE, and the 16 element laser arrays we have done for Ayar Labs. We’ve also delivered extremely good RF and beam formers in 5G to customers including track to rail customers.
What have been your main challenges?
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On a personal level, the whole Sivers community - from the Board and the teams to the
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suppliers, customers and partners - has been extremely embracing. This warm reception has been fantastic and it’s
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| ISSUE 41 | Q2 2025
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