16:35 – 17:20
Panel Discussion: Powering MENA’s High-Tech Future: Investment Pathways & Partnerships
Moderator
Nitin Dahad
EE Times | Electronic Engineering Times
Nitin Dahad is Editor-in-Chief of EE Times, covering the global semiconductor and electronics industry. An electronic engineering graduate from City University, London, U.K., he started his career as an engineer at National Semiconductor, and then in his 40+ year career he’s had roles as journalist, entrepreneur, mentor, and government advisor. His key achievements include being part of ARC International’s startup team that took it to the U.S. market, and also to IPO; and he co-founded one of the early publications serving the electronics industry startup scene in the early 2000s, called The Chilli. Nitin has also worked with many electronics and fabless companies, including GEC Plessey Semiconductors, Dialog Semiconductor, Marconi Instruments, Coresonic, Center for Integrated Photonics, IDENT Technology and Jennic. Nitin also held a role with government promoting U.K. technology globally in the U.S., Brazil, Middle East and Africa, and India. In other areas, he has served on the board of governors of two universities in the U.K., plus the boards of regional development agencies. In addition, he is also a mentor on the London Business School Entrepreneurship Summer School program.
EE Times | Electronic Engineering Times
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Panelist
Jianhui Wang
South China Venture Capital
South China Venture Capital
Company Profile
Panelist
Leon(Yenan) Wu, Ph.D.
Xi’an Longding Investment Management
- Master’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University
- PhD from the School of Integrated Circuits, Tsinghua University
- With a background in Electronic Engineering, he has served as a member of the investment committee for integrated circuit and related industry funds under well-known large central enterprises such as Yizhuang Holding Co., Ltd., achieving remarkable investment performance
Xi’an Longding Investment Management
Company Profile
Xi’an Longding Investment Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Longding”) was established in 2014. It is a high-end investment management company focused on the needs of national development, with “finance” and “industry” as the core drivers, focusing on hard technology tracks such as semiconductors, new energy, and information technology.
西安龙鼎投资管理有限公司（简称“龙鼎投资”）成立于2014年，是一家以国家发展需求为核心导向，以“金融”+“产业”为核心引擎，专注半导 体、新能源、信息技术等硬科技赛道的精品投资管理公司。
Panelist
Dominique Reverdy
ITHCA Group
Seasoned ICT M&A professional leading the Investments for Ithca, branch of the Omani Sovereign Fund OIA, focussed on emerging tech.
ITHCA Group
Company Profile
ITHCA Group (formerly knows as Oman Information and Communication Technology Group) was established in 2019 to play a key role in ensuring that the investments focus on supporting the technologies of the 4th industrial revolution as well as investing in the necessary infrastructure to achieve this goal. Soon after its inception, ITHCA integrated companies like Oman Broadband, Oman Technology Fund, Oman Towers and Space Communications Technology under its umbrella. After obtaining the approval for the Group’s Strategy in the same year, ITHCA signed in for strategic investment in 2020 with Oracle for building a complete cloud services system as well as with Onsor Technologies. 2021 saw the official launch of Withaq Services, which was basically centralizing the support services.
The core functionalities of ITHCA are to actively work on building Oman’s IT infrastructures, up-scale its networks and enhance Oman’s digital capabilities. Guided by the dictum of accelerate, integrate and centralize, ITHCA would scale up data center/cloud facilities, build up cybersecurity infrastructure, enhance centralized digital capabilities and expand hub for telecom interconnections.
Panelist
Raghu Panicker
Kaynes SemiCon
•An Electronics and Communication engineer, self-motivated and business professional with over 35 years of experience across industries, cross cultures in various roles & responsibilities and multi-geographic locations.
•Raghu started his career from Semiconductor Complex Ltd.,(SCL, a govt Fab) in 1991 for 10years as R&D engineer. Then as Country Manger for Mentor Graphics (now Siemens EDA) for 20years. Before Kaynes, Raghu was with Tessolve Semiconductor for 3years running the APAC business.
Kaynes SemiCon
Company Profile
Kaynes Semicon Private Limited, a proud subsidiary of Kaynes Technology India Limited, is leading the charge in India’s semiconductor revolution. With over 35 years of expertise in end-to-end electronics manufacturing services, Kaynes Technology has built a legacy of innovation, quality, and excellence.
Kaynes Semicon marks a historic milestone as the first company in India to package semiconductor chips, a breakthrough that significantly enhances the nation’s capabilities in advanced electronics and manufacturing.
As India accelerates towards self-reliance in the semiconductor sector, in alignment with the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives, Kaynes Semicon is positioned at the forefront of innovation. With state-of-the-art facilities and a future-focused vision, we are set to transform the semiconductor packaging and testing ecosystem, driving India’s emergence as a global hub in semiconductor technology.
Panelist
Sanad Bushnaq, Ph.D.
Dr. Sanad Bushnaq is a semiconductor and microchip technology expert with a track record of world-first chips. With more than 15 years of experience spanning industry and academia, his groundbreaking inventions at the nanometer–scale shaped the evolution of modern memory and logic chips, driving innovation at Toshiba Memory (Japan) – now Kioxia Corp- , MIT (USA), and Intel (USA). Dr. Bushnaq was vital in developing several cutting-edge breakthroughs, with over 25 patents and publications for his inventions in the world’s first 48-layer 3D flash chip, the world’s first 96-layer 3D flash chip, and the world’s fastest flash memory chip developed by Toshiba in Japan.
Dr. Bushnaq pioneers strategies and solutions that break the conventional trade-off between chip’s performance, power consumption and its area. He led multi-disciplinary design and verification teams across analog, digital, mixed-signal domains to deliver next-generation chips and IPs. Dr. Bushnaq achieved first-time-right silicon with use of AI in chip design, automation techniques, and rigorous sign-off methodologies that prioritizes quality, completeness and on-time deliveries.
With deep ties in the region and impact at the highest levels that strengthened ties between the far East, far West and the Middle East. He has served as an advisor to the president of the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan, HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan, an advisor to the Board of Trustees of Princess Sumaya University for Technology, and an advisor to Japan Science and Technology Agency. He built relationships between institutions in the region and global semiconductor companies, including initiating a fully-funded scholarship program to dispatch students from Jordan to train in Toshiba in Japan. In 2017, Dr Bushnaq received a royal recognition from His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein at the 8th World Science Forum, organized by UNESCO, the International Science Council and the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan.
Dr Bushnaq was born and raised in Jordan, before he moved to Japan in 2007. He obtained his Masters and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo.