Ex-Arm stalwart is new CEO at lowRISC

Javier Orensanz Martinez takes the reins on June 2 with more than two decades of experience in the semiconductor space under his belt – including with Cambridge chip champion Arm.

He will lead lowRISC on its mission to help create commercially relevant, open-source silicon designs that are widely adopted throughout industry. To ensure a smooth handover current CEO Dr Gavin Ferris and Javier will be co-CEOs for the month of June, with Gavin stepping away officially at the end of the month.

lowRISC’s purpose from the outset has been, and will continue to be, to help create and support commercially relevant open-source silicon designs that are widely adopted throughout industry. With Javier at the helm, the team will continue to drive long-term impact by fostering an open-source silicon ecosystem that benefits academia, industry, and broader society in general.

Founded in 2014 at the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, lowRISC is a not-for-profit company/CIC that provides a neutral home for collaborative engineering to develop and maintain open source silicon designs and tools for the long term. 

The lowRISC not-for-profit structure, combined with full-stack engineering capabilities in-house, enables the hosting and management of high-quality projects like OpenTitan® and Sunburst via the Silicon Commons® approach.

Dr Ferris said: “Serving as the CEO of lowRISC for five years has been a tremendous privilege and a role I have greatly valued. I’m very proud of what we have achieved alongside our partners during this time — not least in having helped bring the first commercial open-source silicon to reality, with production OpenTitan chips going into Chromebook sockets this summer, Google datacentre applications to follow, and Rivos (and others) integrating the IP directly into their SoCs. 

“I’m confident that in handing the reins over to Javier, his drive and experience will help propel lowRISC to the next level, build on the achievements we’ve accomplished with our valued partners already, and further the positive impacts of open-source silicon.”

Javier joins lowRISC after a successful 22-year career at Arm, with nine years of experience in VP roles: General Manager of the Development Solutions Group, VP of Developer Ecosystems and VP of Quality. He is passionate about the commercial value of open source, having witnessed first-hand how it revolutionised Arm’s approach to software.

Javier brings a mix of savvy business background and technical knowledge, having managed a broad portfolio of software and hardware products, led acquisitions, and delivered growth through long-term partnerships and business model transformation.

He said: “I am so impressed with everything that Gavin and the lowRISC team have accomplished in the last 10 years in collaboration with its amazing partners and contributors. I am thrilled to join the organisation at such a pivotal time, with the first OpenTitan root-of-trust silicon having hit production, and look forward to building on its solid foundations to boost the adoption of open-source hardware.”

Serial Dontrepreneur Sir Andy Hopper, lowRISC’s independent chair, added: “The Board and I would like to thank Gavin for his excellent leadership these last five years and recognise the tremendous accomplishments he and the team have made in open-source silicon. 

“And we are thrilled to welcome Javier as the new CEO. His deep experience in the open-source and semiconductor space and proven track record of success in this industry aligns perfectly with lowRISC’s mission. This is a fantastic time for him to take lowRISC to the next stage of its journey and seize the opportunities available.”