Pete Rodriguez
Biography
Pete Rodriguez has 40 years of experience in the Semiconductor industry. He is on the steering committee of the American Semiconductor Innovation Coalition (ASIC) and has co-led the startup team. In 2022, Pete served on the semiconductor working group of the President’s council of advisors in science and technology (PCAST). Pete is currently on the advisory boards of Certus Semiconductor, Harvest Management Partners and Blue Horizons-AI and an observer on the board of Owl Autonomous Imaging.
Pete was formerly VP & GM of Interface and Power at NXP Semiconductors. Prior to NXP, Pete was CEO of Exar Corporation (NASDAQ), CEO of Xpedion Design Systems (acquired by Agilent), Chief Marketing Officer at Virage Logic (NASDAQ), Major Account Manager at LSI Logic and Program Manager at Aerojet Electronic Systems. He spent twelve years as an entrepreneur with three different startups and has raised over $30 Million in venture capital. He retired from the US Naval Reserves with the rank of Commander. Pete has served on public, UK LTD, private, advisory and non-profit boards of directors.
He is a graduate in strategy and policy of the Naval War College. Pete has an MBA from Pepperdine University, an MSEE from Cal Poly Pomona where he was inducted in the engineering hall of fame, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
Company Profile
Silicon Catalyst
Silicon Catalyst is the only incubator + accelerator focused on the Global Semiconductor Industry including Chips, Chiplets, Materials, IP and Silicon fabrication-based Photonics, MEMS, Sensors, Life Science and Quantum.
More than 1,200 startup companies worldwide have engaged with Silicon Catalyst and the company has admitted over 100 exciting companies. With a world-class network of mentors to advise startups, Silicon Catalyst is helping new semiconductor companies address the challenges in moving from idea to realization.
The incubator + accelerator supplies startups with access to design tools, silicon devices, networking, and a path to funding, banking and marketing acumen to successfully launch and grow their company’s novel technology solutions. Over the past nine years, the Silicon Catalyst model has been proven to dramatically accelerate a startup’s trajectory while at the same time de-risking the equation for investors.
The Silicon Catalyst Angels was established in July 2019 as a separate organization to provide access to seed and Series A funding for Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies.
SiliconCatalyst.UK, a subsidiary of Silicon Catalyst, was selected by the UK government to manage ChipStart UK, an early-stage semiconductor incubator funded by the UK government.
In February of 2024, Silicon Catalyst Ventures (SCV) was launched to fund early-stage startups accepted into the incubator’s two-year program. SCV has already made eleven investments in Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies.
More information is available at www.siliconcatalyst.com, www.siliconcatalystangels.com, www.siliconcatalyst.uk, and Silicon Catalyst Ventures www.sicatalystvc.com.