Thampy Thomas

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A. Thampy Thomas (born 1945or1946) [1] is an electrical engineer who contributed to microprocessor pipeline architecture and founded semiconductor company NexGen microsystems.

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Elxsi

In 1979, Thomas co-founded Elxsi, a semiconductor company in Silicon Valley. Thomas holds Ph.D. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University and B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. [1]

Thomas was the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Elxsi from 1979 to 1985. Elxsi was the first computer company to use more than one processor. Elxsi investors included the Tata Group and Arthur Rock. [2]

NexGen

After Elxsi, Thomas founded NexGen Microsystems. [3] Nexgen implemented the x86 architecture in its processors. Their processors translated code designed to run on the traditionally CISC-based x86 architecture to run on the chip's internal RISC architecture. [4] After the announcement of a competitor to Intel's i386 line of CPUs, journalist John C. Dvorak described Thomas as "a big-time defender of CISC architecture". [5] Much of the underlying theory was developed during Thomas' doctorate work, under the supervision of his advisor, Ed Davidson.

Thomas was president, CEO, and chairman at Nexgen. He was succeeded as CEO by Atiq Raza in 1991 but remained chairman. [3] Nexgen went public in 1995, [6] and AMD acquired Nexgen later that year. [7]

Other service

Thomas has served as the chairman and CEO of PostX (now owned by Cisco), Director at Micro Linear Corporation (acquired by Sirenza), Director of Liquid Robotics, board member at Jupiter Research Foundation, and Director at Vintners' Alliance. [8] [9] [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 Nilekani, Rohini (15 August 1985). "Tata promoted computer firm Elxsi tie up with Trilogy Systems to take on IBM". India Today . Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "History of Technology: Arthur Rock | Tech Crash". techcrash.net. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 Fisher, Lawrence M. (31 January 1991). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Nexgen Microsystems Names Chief Executive". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 25 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "cpu-collection.de". www.cpu-collection.de. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  5. ↑ Dvorak, John C. (25 September 1990). Inside Track. PC Magazine . Ziff Davis. p. 77.
  6. ↑ Rhodes, Lucien (10 July 1995). "Fortune Visits 25 Cool Companies". Fortune . Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "Chip Maker AMD to Buy Nexgen for $857 Million". Los Angeles Times. 21 October 1995. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "Cisco acquires IronPort for $830 million". 4 January 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Corporation, Micro Linear. "Micro Linear Corporation Announces Agreement to be Acquired by Sirenza Microdevices, Inc". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "Company Overview of The Vintners' Alliance, Inc". Bloomberg News . Archived from the original on 12 January 2019.
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