News: Optoelectronics
24 February 2026
Ayar Labs names Sankara Venkateswaran as VP of engineering
Silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of San Jose, CA, USA — which is pioneering co-packaged optics (CPO) for AI scale-up — has appointed Sankara Venkateswaran as vice president of engineering. He joins at a pivotal stage as the company scales its solution for mass production to support hyperscale AI workloads.
“Sankara brings deep expertise in network acceleration silicon that perfectly complements our leadership in co-packaged optics,” says CEO & co-founder Mark Wade. “His track record building world-class engineering teams makes him the ideal leader to help us advance CPO deployment and meet the massive scaling demands of AI infrastructure.”
Venkateswaran will lead Ayar Labs’ engineering organization, developing its TeraPHY optical engines, overseeing architecture, design, and product execution. With experience delivering end-to-end silicon products for networking controllers, he brings a disciplined focus on efficiency, predictability and quality, which are critical to serving hyperscale customers who require production-grade silicon that integrates seamlessly into advanced packaging flows.
“Co-packaged optics is rapidly moving from early innovation to infrastructure necessity,” says Venkateswaran. “Ayar Labs is uniquely positioned to lead at the forefront of this transition. My focus is on delivering the most performant, compatible, and manufacturing-ready CPO solution for AI scale-up to overcome the bandwidth and power limitations of copper.”
Venkateswaran has more than 26 years of experience delivering mobile, compute, networking, and infrastructure silicon products, with engineering and leadership roles at Atheros, Qualcomm, and Intel. He led multiple product programs and contributed to successful tape-outs across a range of leading-edge process nodes and foundries. At Intel, he served as VP of foundational networking silicon engineering, leading global teams developing Ethernet controllers and networking SoCs for hyperscale and enterprise customers under aggressive timelines.
His appointment builds on Ayar Labs’ momentum – including recent partnerships with Alchip and GUC – as the company scales its co-packaged optics solution for high-volume deployment. The firm says it continues to lead the transition from traditional copper interconnects to a scalable CPO solution that delivers higher performance at lower power and cost.
Ayar Labs and Alchip to scale AI infrastructure with co-packaged optics
