Ajey Jacob

Ajey Jacob is the Director of the Application Specific Intelligent Computing (ASIC) Lab at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI). With 16 years of industry experience from Intel Corporation and GlobalFoundries, Dr. Jacob brings deep expertise in semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing to his academic role. His professional journey includes founding and leading GlobalFoundries' Differentiating Technology Research Group and managing strategic research consortia at Intel.

Dr. Jacob's research focuses on advanced semiconductor technologies with particular emphasis on silicon photonics, non-volatile memory (MRAM, FeRAM, RRAM), photonic SRAM, in-memory computing, and processing-in-pixel architectures. His work bridges materials, devices, integration, and fabrication aspects of next-generation computing systems. Recent publications demonstrate a strong trajectory toward photonic computing for AI acceleration and energy-efficient edge intelligence systems.

Dr. Jacob's publication record is exceptional with over 300 worldwide patents (including more than 220 USPTO issued patents), four book chapters, and more than 100 journal and conference papers. His most recent work (2023-2025) shows continued innovation in photonic memory systems, neuromorphic computing architectures, and optical interconnects for high-performance computing.

• Master Inventor at GlobalFoundries (2017-2020)
• Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Mahboob Khan Outstanding Industry Liaison Award (2013, 2016)

Dr. Jacob actively contributes to the research community as a committee member for IEEE Electronics Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) Silicon Photonics Session, has served as chair and co-chair for the International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics (FCMN), and is co-chair for the MIT/AIM Photonics monolithic integration session of the Integrated Photonics Systems Roadmap (IPSR). His industry-academia bridge provides unique opportunities for students interested in both fundamental research and practical semiconductor technology development.

The ASIC Lab under Dr. Jacob's direction represents a convergence point for photonics, memory systems, and AI acceleration research, with strong connections to semiconductor industry challenges and opportunities. His work on photonic SRAM and in-memory computing addresses critical bottlenecks in modern computing architectures while maintaining practical considerations from his extensive industry experience.