Event Summary

Join us for a compelling evening at the Austin Forum on Technology & Society as we dive into the world of the silicon industry with our presentation and conversation event, "The Current State, Trends, Challenges, and Future of Chips."

In an era where silicon-based computer chips are the heartbeat of our digital existence, understanding their capabilities and future is crucial. These tiny marvels of engineering power everything from our smartphones and laptops to advanced medical devices and autonomous vehicles. They are instrumental in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, including climate change, healthcare advancements, and artificial intelligence.

Our discussion will illuminate the current state of the silicon industry, exploring pivotal trends and future directions. We will examine the societal and national security implications of this critical technology, recognizing how advancements and vulnerabilities in chip design can influence global stability and innovation.

With Moore's Law—a guiding principle predicting the doubling of transistors on a chip approximately every two years—facing increasing challenges, innovative chip companies are pioneering new methods to push the boundaries of what’s possible. From advanced semiconductor materials to quantum computing, exciting new directions are emerging to sustain and propel the industry forward.

Join industry experts and thought leaders as they present insights into the breakthroughs shaping the future of computer chips and engage in a lively conversation about how these advancements will impact our daily lives and the broader landscape of technology and society.

Highlights of the Event

Current State and Trends: An overview of the silicon industry's evolution and its role in modern technology.
Challenges to Moore's Law: Insight into the limitations of traditional chip scaling and the innovative approaches being explored.
Societal and National Security Implications: Discussion on how chip technology affects global security and societal progress.
Future Directions: Exploration of groundbreaking advancements and potential new frontiers in chip technology.

Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the silicon industry's pivotal role and future prospects. Engage with experts, ask questions, and be part of the conversation that shapes the next wave of technological innovation.

Speakers

**Michael Ignatowski**, Senior Fellow, AMD

Michael Ignatowski is a Senior Fellow at AMD Research in Austin, where he leads the research work in advanced memory architecture for high performance computers. Mike was involved in AMD’s role in winning the bid for the Frontier Exascale system to be installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory next year. Before joining AMD 10 years ago, Mike worked at IBM in upstate New York for 27 years in advanced development and research. Mike has a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Michigan State University.

Outside of work, Mike serves on the board for Common Ground for Texans (CG4TX.org), a local group dedicated to promoting civil discourse among diverse communities and seeking common ground solutions toward a healthy democracy. He also serves on the board of 350-Austin, a local chapter of the international 350.org organization dedicated to reducing the threat of climate change. Mike is also the former president of the Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society.

Eric is currently a Fellow in the Research division at Arm in Austin, TX leading the systems research group. The group's activities include exploring the place of Arm within data centers, network infrastructure, high performance computing, distributed systems, edge computing, and investigating next-generation concepts in security, operating systems, runtimes, and systems software.

He was a research staff member in the Future Systems Department at IBM's Austin Research Lab. Over nearly twelve years at IBM, he has worked on low-power dense server and network processor appliance blades, DRAM power management, full system simulation, high performance computing, hypervisors, and the Linux operating system. Before coming to IBM, he worked for four years at Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories on the Plan 9 and Inferno operating systems.

**Thomas Fedorko**, COO, Inspire Semiconductor

Thomas is an entrepreneurial executive bringing more than 35 years of hands-on technical and business leadership in semiconductor Operations. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Inspire Semiconductor bringing to market a RISC-V based accelerator that will disrupt the HPC, AI, & blockchain applications. Previously he was the VP of Operations for Eta Compute and developed an ultra-low power solution for energy constrained AI applications. Prior to that he led the Operations teams for several successful startup companies including, Uhnder, Bluetechnix (acquired by Becom), Black Sand Technologies (acquired by Qualcomm), Luminary Micro (acquired by Texas Instruments) and Oak Technology (acquired by Zoran). He began his career as a product engineer at Motorola Semiconductor who supplied the MC68000 microprocessor for the very first Apple Macintosh. Thomas graduated with honors with a technical degree from DeVry University and is a graduate of the Motorola Management Institute.

Attendance Instructions

In-person

Join us at the ACC Rio Grande: Center for Government & Civic Service where you will be checked in at the front. Parking map here!

In-person attendees, please join us from 5:15 to 6:15 for networking and food. We look forward to chatting with you face-to-face!

Virtual

Once you register via Ticketbud, you will receive the virtual link in your confirmation email. You will also receive the link in a reminder email one day before the event.