Speaker: Khoa Nguyen

Khoa Dang Nguyen is a senior engineering executive with nearly three decades of experience spanning semiconductor R&D, EDA tool development, and global business development.
Most recently a Senior Manager of CAD Design Engineering at AMD (2011–2025), he previously held leadership roles at Cadence Design Systems, Silicon Frontline Technology, and Simplex Solutions, driving product strategy for industry-leading tools like Fire&Ice, VoltageStorm, and F3D while building partnerships with major foundries including TSMC, UMC, and GlobalFoundries.
Earlier in his career he worked at Cray Research, Teradata, Gould CSD, and NCR, and co-founded CAD Artisans, where he helped build one of the market’s first full Verilog HDL logic simulators.
He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC San Diego and an Executive MBA from the University of San Diego.
Beyond his corporate career, Khoa is actively involved in developing Vietnam’s IC design industry, co-founding CENTIC, a leading design house in Da Nang, and maintains strong interests in business strategy, technology trends, and investing.

 

Subject: From Code to Silicon: Thriving in the AI Token Economy

 

Abstract: 
AI is reshaping the high-tech industry into a new "Token Economy," where compute tokens drive value much like oil once did. This talk explores AI's impact across hardware and software, mapping the stack from infrastructure to applications, and examining today's winners and losers.
We'll explore why semiconductors are red-hot while power—despite being critical to data centers—gets less attention, and why connectivity is becoming a strategic layer. Most importantly,
we'll discuss what this means for engineers: how software developers are adapting to AI tools, and why many are shifting toward hardware and systems design—plus actionable steps to stay ahead. 

 

 

Target Audience:   All engineers & managers