Ajay Mantha: Leveraging Over A Decade's Experience To Drive Innovation & Technological Advancement
Ajay Mantha
Director
Ajay Mantha was the India Centre Head and Director of Engineering at Keyssa before joining Ceremorphic. At Redpine Signals, He was a founding member of the RFIC team later acquired by Silicon Labs and served as Director of Engineering at Redpine Signals for 12 years. He has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in engineering from IIT Guwahati. Ajay has four or more patents in the field of low-power wireless designs.
"We are a group of highly motivated engineers who set out to design a new computing architecture that addresses the present state of the art in terms of dependability, security,energy efficiency, scalability", highlights Ajay.
In an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights, Ajay, Director of Engineering, High Performance Analog at Ceremorphic walks us through his personal and professional life along with the unique traits of the company.
Tell us about your professional background and experiences. What inspired you to venture into the wireless industry?
Redpine Signals was my first job after graduating from IITG. Redpine was a young business at the time,
and it was the only firm in India designing low-power chips for Wireless LAN, so I thought it would be a good fit for my career. Redpine chose to begin RFIC development as soon as I arrived. I was the first employee on the team and I eventually managed the group that productized many wireless chipsets. Silicon Labs bought Redpine Signals for 308 million dollars in 2020. The RFIC group I led a pivotal role in the acquisition.
After 12 years at Redpine, I moved to Keyssa, a 60 GHz startup as the Director of Engineering and the Head of the India Center. I joined Ceremorphic as Director of Engineering after a brief stay at Keyssa.
Could you talk about the learning and experience that you have acquired from IIT Guwahati and how you apply them in your current role?
IIT Guwahati provided me with a solid electrical engineering background. The school emphasized both theoretical and practical learning equally. Students aspiring for a career in the industry can benefit from lab courses in particular. In addition, my involvement in the student body and campus festivals provided me with significant organizational and leadership abilities.
Define Ceremorphic as an organization and where is it positioned in the industry?
We are a group of highly motivated engineers who set out to design a new computing architecture that addresses the present state of the art in terms of dependability, security energy efficiency, and scalability. Ceremorphic is working on a low-power supercomputer
We are a group of highly motivated engineers who set out to design a new computing architecture that addresses the present state of the art in terms of dependability,security, energy efficiency and scalability
After 12 years at Redpine, I moved to Keyssa, a 60 GHz startup as the Director of Engineering and the Head of the India Center. I joined Ceremorphic as Director of Engineering after a brief stay at Keyssa.
Could you talk about the learning and experience that you have acquired from IIT Guwahati and how you apply them in your current role?
IIT Guwahati provided me with a solid electrical engineering background. The school emphasized both theoretical and practical learning equally. Students aspiring for a career in the industry can benefit from lab courses in particular. In addition, my involvement in the student body and campus festivals provided me with significant organizational and leadership abilities.
Define Ceremorphic as an organization and where is it positioned in the industry?
We are a group of highly motivated engineers who set out to design a new computing architecture that addresses the present state of the art in terms of dependability, security energy efficiency, and scalability. Ceremorphic is working on a low-power supercomputer
processor for TSMC 5nm, based on its own unique technology and ThreadArch multi thread processing architecture.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
Developing a team at a startup is a complex and arduous task. It took significant work to assemble a high-caliber team and guard against attrition despite deep-pocketed opponents. Our priority has been to hire bright young individuals and offer them with a supportive environment in which they can thrive.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
In the early and evolving years of my career, the focus of all my attention was on my work. However, I've finally found a good balance between my personal and professional roles. When I'm at work, I strive to be as productive as possible, and when I get home, I make it a point to unplug to spend uninterrupted, quality time with my family. I firmly believe in taking a hands-on approach, which I consider is paramount in launching a successful business. Being hands-on allows me to gain a better understanding of our teams and the difficulties they face. It also aids in the development of stronger team bonds and nurtures team work.
Going forward, what are the goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Our immediate objective is to continue to establish a high-performing team capable of bringing our great vision to life. In the long run, I'd like to strengthen our technological leadership and establish ourselves as one of the most inventive organizations in the world.
Ajay Mantha, Director, Ceremorphic
Ajay was the India Centre Head and Director of Engineering at Keyssa before joining Ceremorphic. He has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in engineering from IIT Guwahati.
Hobbies:Stock trading, Fantasy cricket and Reading
Favourite Cuisine:Asian, Indo-Chinese
Favourite Book:Discourses of Epictetus
Favourite Travel Destination: Barcelona
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
Developing a team at a startup is a complex and arduous task. It took significant work to assemble a high-caliber team and guard against attrition despite deep-pocketed opponents. Our priority has been to hire bright young individuals and offer them with a supportive environment in which they can thrive.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
In the early and evolving years of my career, the focus of all my attention was on my work. However, I've finally found a good balance between my personal and professional roles. When I'm at work, I strive to be as productive as possible, and when I get home, I make it a point to unplug to spend uninterrupted, quality time with my family. I firmly believe in taking a hands-on approach, which I consider is paramount in launching a successful business. Being hands-on allows me to gain a better understanding of our teams and the difficulties they face. It also aids in the development of stronger team bonds and nurtures team work.
Going forward, what are the goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Our immediate objective is to continue to establish a high-performing team capable of bringing our great vision to life. In the long run, I'd like to strengthen our technological leadership and establish ourselves as one of the most inventive organizations in the world.
Ajay Mantha, Director, Ceremorphic
Ajay was the India Centre Head and Director of Engineering at Keyssa before joining Ceremorphic. He has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in engineering from IIT Guwahati.
Hobbies:Stock trading, Fantasy cricket and Reading
Favourite Cuisine:Asian, Indo-Chinese
Favourite Book:Discourses of Epictetus
Favourite Travel Destination: Barcelona