Ivo Bolsens

Ivo Bolsens is a Belgian-born semiconductor technologist whose career spans nearly four decades in VLSI, EDA and programmable-logic research. He earned both his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Applied Science from KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven), Belgium. He began his career in 1984 at IMEC, the Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center, rising to Vice President of Information and Communication Systems, where he oversaw R&D in digital signal-processing hardware and software and led teams that spun out three startups in SoC design tools and wireless systems. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 papers on VLSI design, CAD, embedded systems and wireless communication.

In June 2001 Bolsens joined Xilinx, the FPGA pioneer, and served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. In that role he ran Xilinx Research Laboratories (XRL) and the Xilinx University Program (XUP), steering the company's advanced-technology roadmap through the industry's move to 16nm and toward adaptive/AI compute platforms. When AMD acquired Xilinx in 2022, Bolsens moved to AMD as Senior Vice President of Corporate Research and Advanced Development, where he managed future architectures and software stacks for AI and embedded computing before retiring.

Since retiring from AMD, Bolsens has shifted toward academia, advisory and investing. At Stanford University he is an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering, teaches EE310, and directs the SystemX Industry Alliance, which fosters academia–industry collaboration in semiconductor systems. He is associated with Maverick Silicon — the semiconductor-focused investment arm of Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital — where he contributes technical analysis of emerging architectures, materials and market disruptions.

He remains active on numerous boards and advisory bodies, including the board of IMEC, and engineering advisory boards at Santa Clara University, San José State University, and UC Berkeley's EECS department. He also serves as a mentor at EvoNexus, a nonprofit Southern California technology incubator, and has been listed on the board of advisors of ASML.

• Invests in and advises semiconductor and compute companies — "private companies designing or producing chips, hardware, software or processes that solve the seemingly insatiable demand for compute" (Maverick Silicon's stated focus).
• Sweet spot reflects his own expertise: chip design, EDA/SoC tools, AI accelerators, adaptive/programmable logic, edge and embedded compute, and wireless.
• Engages at the early / seed stage as an angel and technical advisor, and mentors founders through the EvoNexus incubator; brings deep operator credibility (former CTO of a major FPGA company).
• Values founders solving hard, differentiated deep-tech / semiconductor problems — his track record is building and spinning out technology companies from research (three IMEC spinouts), so he gravitates to technically rigorous teams rather than pure-software plays.