Stephen Chiao

Dr. Stephen Chiao has served as a Managing Partner of Sycamore Ventures since 1999, where he is responsible for the firm's technology and Asia-based investments. In 2012 he took over from Kilin To in managing Sycamore's Asia Star IT Fund (the asiaSTAR family of funds), which targets expansion-stage companies in Greater China. Sycamore Ventures itself is a venture capital and private equity firm founded in the mid-1990s, headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with a presence spanning the United States, India and Singapore, and a focus on computing/software, telecommunications, media, and healthcare and life sciences.

Before joining Sycamore, Dr. Chiao accumulated more than a decade of industrial experience in senior technical and managerial positions at Varian Associates, Hewlett-Packard, Gould/AMI, and Mosel. He also served as a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at San Jose State University, giving him a hands-on engineering and semiconductor background that informs his deep-tech and hardware investing.

Academically, Dr. Chiao earned his Bachelor's degree from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, a Master's degree from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Beyond his fund role, he has served as an advisor/board figure to portfolio company ACM Research, a semiconductor cleaning-equipment maker with substantial operations in Shanghai that later listed publicly (NASDAQ: ACMR).

• Invests primarily in technology and clean-energy companies, with a stated focus on "solar technologies and the solar value chain, energy-efficient materials and electronic devices & systems, energy-efficient lighting and display technologies, fuel cell and energy storage, power management systems, and project finance focused on clean energy generation."
• Runs a cross-border US–Asia strategy, deploying capital into Greater China expansion-stage companies through Sycamore's asiaSTAR / Asia Star IT funds while also backing US technology and life-sciences companies.
• Leans on a deep engineering and semiconductor pedigree (Stanford Materials Science Ph.D., senior roles at Varian, HP, AMI) — he backs hardware, materials and semiconductor businesses where technical diligence matters.
• Sector breadth spans semiconductors, optoelectronics, connectivity/wireless, cleantech and diagnostics/life sciences, reflected in a portfolio that mixes chip foundries, RF/wireless, foil/materials makers, and biotech.