# Aki Fujimura

> Aki Fujimura is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of D2S, Inc., a San Jose-based semiconductor technology company he started in 2007. Armed with MIT degrees in EECS and over 100 US patents, Fujimura has spent four decades at the sharp edge of semiconductor design automation - co-founding Tangent Systems (acquired by Cadence), serving as President/COO at Simplex Solutions (acquired by Cadence), and incubating new businesses at Cadence before betting on GPU-accelerated curvilinear mask technology at a time when the industry thought it impractical. Today D2S powers the photomask manufacturing pipeline for leading-edge chipmakers worldwide, with over 40 Computational Design Platform installations and a growing body of proof that curvilinear ILT masks deliver dramatically better process windows than conventional Manhattan OPC.

- **Role:** Chairman and CEO at D2S, Inc.
- **Organizations:** D2S, Inc., eBeam Initiative, SPIE BACUS Technical Group, SEMI ESD Alliance
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- **Known for:** Over 100 US patents granted, Elected SPIE Fellow in 2023, Co-founded and grew Tangent Systems through successful acquisition by Cadence (1989)

## Career timeline

- **1984** — Co-founded Tangent Systems, serving as VP/GM of Central Engineering
- **1989** — Tangent Systems acquired by Cadence Design Systems; joined Cadence as VP/GM
- **Late 1990s** — Joined Simplex Solutions as COO, later President; company IPO'd
- **1990s** — Served as VP and inside board member at Pure Software (IPO'd)
- **2002** — Simplex Solutions acquired by Cadence; continued at Cadence as CTO for New Business Incubation and GM of DFM Division
- **2006** — Joined board of Coverity, Inc. as Board Director
- **2007** — Founded D2S, Inc. to enable advanced photomask manufacturing using GPU acceleration
- **2009** — Co-founded eBeam Initiative to promote electron beam technologies in semiconductor manufacturing
- **2014** — Exited Coverity board (Coverity acquired by Synopsys in 2014)
- **2023** — Elected SPIE Fellow
- **2024** — D2S presented at SPIE Photomask Technology + EUV Conference; continued advancing curvilinear ILT mask technology

## Achievements

- Over 100 US patents granted
- Elected SPIE Fellow in 2023
- Co-founded and grew Tangent Systems through successful acquisition by Cadence (1989)
- Led Simplex Solutions as President/COO through IPO and subsequent Cadence acquisition (2002)
- Founded D2S, Inc. in 2007; grew to 40+ worldwide GPU Computational Design Platform installations
- Co-founded the eBeam Initiative, an industry education organization for electron beam lithography technologies
- Serves as President of the SPIE BACUS Technical Group
- Re-elected multiple terms to SEMI ESD Alliance Governing Council
- D2S TrueMask ILT demonstrated 85-100% improvement in process window vs. Manhattan OPC
- Successfully closed Series C funding round of $12.7M (total funding $38.09M)
- Board memberships at HLDS, RTime, Bristol S7, Coverity - all successfully acquired

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — D2S presented eBeam Initiative photomask revenue data at SPIE Photomask Technology + EUV Conference
- **2023-09** — Aki Fujimura elected SPIE Fellow
- **2023-01** — D2S acquired Gauda to expand GPU acceleration capabilities for advanced semiconductor lithography
- **2022-01** — Aki Fujimura spoke at SEMI ESD Alliance CEO Outlook & Membership Meeting
- **2021-05** — Released Shot Talk Spring 2021 Edition covering semiconductor industry conference highlights

## Links

- Website: https://design2silicon.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aki-fujimura-b823654
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/akifujimura
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aki+fujimura+d2s

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/aki-fujimura
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13