# Hemant Thapar

> Hemant Thapar is an electrical engineer and semiconductor entrepreneur who co-founded DataPath Systems and Link_A_Media Devices, acquired by LSI Logic and SK hynix respectively. Now publicly identified as OmniTier’s co-founder, chairman and CEO, he is an IEEE Fellow and a 2019 National Academy of Engineering member whose research helped advance reliable, high-density magnetic recording.

- **Role:** Co-founder, Chairman and CEO at OmniTier Inc.
- **Organizations:** OmniTier Inc., ASSIA, Santa Clara University, Ambala College of Engineering and Applied Research, Link_A_Media Devices (former), SK hynix Memory Solutions (former), DataPath Systems (former), LSI Logic (former), IBM (former), Bell Telephone Laboratories (former), University of California San Diego (former visiting researcher)
- **Education:** BS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Santa Clara University, MS, Electrical Engineering, Purdue University, PhD, Electrical Engineering, Purdue University
- **Known for:** Elected IEEE Fellow in 1998., Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for coding and signal processing for high-density magnetic recording., Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, 2022.

## Career timeline

- **1979-1984** — Technical staff member in data communications at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Holmdel.
- **1984-1994** — Senior engineer and manager in advanced channel technology at IBM, San Jose.
- **1984-2004** — Adjunct lecturer in electrical engineering at Santa Clara University.
- **1987** — Co-authored a paper with A. M. Patel on partial-response systems for higher-density magnetic recording.
- **1994-2000** — Co-founded and led DataPath Systems.
- **2000-2004** — Senior vice president at LSI Logic following its acquisition of DataPath.
- **2004-2012** — Founder, chairman and CEO of Link_A_Media Devices.
- **2012-2013** — CEO of SK hynix Memory Solutions after the Link_A_Media acquisition.
- **2013-2015** — Visiting research scholar at UC San Diego, as listed by Purdue; Fall 2013 CMRR newsletter identifies him as a visiting research scientist.
- **2015** — Co-founded OmniTier; publicly listed as chairman and CEO.

## Achievements

- Elected IEEE Fellow in 1998.
- Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019 for coding and signal processing for high-density magnetic recording.
- Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, 2022.
- Purdue Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer, 2019.
- Santa Clara Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, 2018.
- Extended Partial Response research became widely used in hard-disk and tape-drive data recovery.
- Co-recipient of three best paper awards.
- More than 50 publications in data communications and storage.
- Purdue’s 2022 biography credits his work with 12 patents on coding, detection and synchronization.

## Latest updates

- **—** — Received Purdue’s Distinguished Engineering Alumni award.
- **2019-03** — Santa Clara announced his election to the National Academy of Engineering.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemant-thapar-155a22149

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/hemant-thapar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23