Chitra Hariharan, 42
Director of Engineering, ASIC Design, Open-Silicon

1. Has over 18 years of silicon engineering and technical management experience.

2. Prior to Open-Silicon, was at Intel Microelectronics and RealChip Communications.

3. Held senior engineering positions at VLSI Design Center of ITI

4.Received her Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Madras.


How does it feel to be a consistent performer when technology itself is not consistent? “Great,” squeals Chitra Hariharan on her career span within the semiconductor space.

Mind you that the three-micron to 90nm evolution in chip design is a gigantic leap in compression. She believes that the crown jewel of her career is building the Open-Silicon engineering team in India from the scratch. Tape-outs (project completion), which are perfect, have been the hallmark of her team as she grew on to lead them.

“ My success is dependant on the team,” tells Hariharan. The second project of the company in 2004, in the display domain within the consumer applications market, headed by Hariharan in the design manager role, won the prestigious ‘Best Development Team’ award from EE Times among 100’s of companies worldwide. This is significant because it was the initial days of the company with all the constraints where it had to prove itself.

The design was robust enough for the customer to ship millions of chips in volume within demanding schedules (release to production) meeting all the necessary characterizations for the chip. Hariharan thus ensures that her customer’s peak performance is her and her team’s peak too.