Fumihide Esaka, currently serving as the CEO at Ambiq Micro, brings a wealth of experience and a passion for technology to her role. With a background that includes previous experience as the CEO at Transphorm, she is deeply entrenched in the world of technology.
Esaka describes herself as a “technology fanatic” and firmly believes in the transformative power of technology to improve the world. Throughout her career, she has been driven by this belief, aligning herself with individuals who share her vision. Together, they have achieved significant accomplishments.
While Esaka has transitioned from her earlier roles as a consultant to leadership positions overseeing entire departments and organizations, her love for technology and collaboration with talented individuals remains the driving force behind her work.
Below are highlights of interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Fumihide Esaka:
Describe your past journey and what did you do before starting your professional career?
I attended the University of California at San Diego, where I received my degree in computer science. From there, I began my career as a consulting manager with Anderson Consulting in the late 1980s. I provided management consulting to various global companies, focusing on the consumer and industrial segments.
I served as Director of Asian Sales/Customer Service and Vice President of the Japanese subsidiary of International Rectifier, a US-based public semiconductor company that is today part of Infineon Technologies.
From 2000 through 2012, I served with Japan’s Nihon Inter Electronics Corporation (NIEC) in many facets. For the first seven years, I served as an External “CEO” of Ambiq. I was then named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2007 and promoted to Chief Executive Officer and President of the company in 2010.
I served as Chief Executive Officer for Santa Barbara-based Transphorm, Inc. in 2015. During this time, we raised over $55 million in equity and spearheaded the acquisition of Fujitsu’s Gallium Nitride (GaN) business unit.
Since then, I have served as a Chief Executive Officer of Ambiq, Inc., an Austin, Texas-based ultra-lower power semiconductor company founded in 2010.
Tell us about the inception of the company.
Our CTO and Founder, Scott Hanson, developed this amazing technology during his time at the University of Michigan. It’s based on running portable battery-powered smart devices at subthreshold power levels. He went on to launch Ambiq in 2010. The technology behind Ambiq is truly special and resonated with me as someone who has been a part of the semiconductor industry for the past two decades. I knew this was something that needed to be everywhere, and since 2015, my mission has been to lead this company to new heights.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
I think the way I see things has always been what sets me apart, along with my entrepreneurial spirit. I’m a very big picture kind of person, and that mixes well with my passion for great technology. Ambiq is a startup semiconductor company, but our technology surpasses anything I’ve seen in the industry. I don’t just think about where Ambiq is now, I think about where Ambiq will be in 20 years, and it has helped us develop better technology, attract top-tier talent, and expand our operations across the globe. To answer this question: I value determination and big ideas.
Which are the major services of the company and how does the company get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
We offer ultra-low power semiconductor solutions that can power endpoint devices at even lower power levels than ever before. The world is shifting to a data-driven world that leans into AI to enrich our daily lives. But AI is power-hungry, and a device that needs to be plugged into an outlet is only useful when you are by that device. We want to make that level of intelligence possible everywhere. To that extent, our semiconductors power endpoint devices are capable of AI without the need to communicate to the cloud or servers.
We drastically expand the power budget of battery-powered devices so they can last days, weeks, months, or even years on a single charge. We do this with our Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT®). Working with subthreshold powers is difficult, but Ambiq is the only semiconductor company that has successfully brought this technology to a large scale of smart devices.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
I think it’s very important that the employees within the organization feel empowered and understood. The success of the company is very much an equal credit to their talents and how they think about bringing big ideas to life. If a worker doesn’t feel valued or validated, the company culture and product suffer. I work with a phenomenal management team that is made up of experts within their departments, and I trust them to run their team efficiently. My management team, in turn, enables their team with autonomy to make choices that they believe in, and with healthy exchanges in communications, they can refine ideas and put the best ones out there. At the end of the day, everyone is human and wants to be heard, so anything you see from us is a product of their voice.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
We embrace innovative ideas at Ambiq. The Semiconductor industry is an exciting field because it really proves Moore’s Law is alive and well (The principle that the speed and capabilities of computers double every two years). Releasing a new product is significant for Ambiq because we try to gauge where technology will be five years in advance and what consumers and customers will be drawn to by then.
In that time frame, a lot can change, as we’ve seen with things like ChatGPT. But the product always leaves me in awe. Today, our team can put together semiconductor solutions that address the power challenges of half a decade. That can only be the result of innovative ideas.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
In my experience, teamwork has always won over individual hero’s of a company. I don’t think successful companies get to where they are based on the skill set of a single person, and I don’t believe those single talented individuals get to where they are without a team. I think smart organizations rely on team processes.
What are your responsibilities as the CEO of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
I oversee the different organizations within the company and ensure we are on track for growth and prosperity and meeting strategic goals that benefit the company. I make the executive decisions for the company’s direction based on what my management team reports to me and act as the face of the company to the public and the Board of Directors.
The happiest part of my day is working with the talented leaders at Ambiq and seeing firsthand the results of strategic moves they propose to pay off.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
Don’t be afraid of failure; there’s always something to learn from the experience. Experiment and use those experiences to make things better because there will always be room for improvement. Learn as much as you can from others, whether they are senior to you or more junior in their careers. Everyone has their own unique experiences that we can learn a lot from and emulate to enrich some aspects of our lives.
