# Jeffrey Chou

> Jeffrey Chou is the CEO and co-founder of Sonatus, the Sunnyvale-based company building AI-powered software-defined vehicle platforms for the automotive industry. A serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a track record of exits to Cisco and Brocade, Chou co-founded Sonatus in 2018 with Yu Fang, applying datacenter-era thinking to automobiles. Under his leadership, Sonatus has raised over $110 million, won the 2022 PACE Innovation Partnership Award with Hyundai, and deployed its platform across more than 6 million production vehicles globally from Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Sonatus
- **Organizations:** Sonatus, Diamanti
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BSEE in Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, MSEE in Computer Engineering, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Sonatus in 2018; scaled it to 6+ million vehicles in production by 2025, Raised over $110 million in funding from Foxconn, Hyundai/Kia, LG Electronics, Marvell, NEC, and leading VCs, Won the 2022 PACE Innovation Partnership Award with Hyundai Motor Group

## Career timeline

- **1990** — Internship/early role at Sandia National Laboratories
- **1991-1996** — Technical Lead at Sun Microsystems
- **1996-2001** — Senior Manager Engineering at Granite Systems (acquired by Cisco)
- **2001-2004** — Principal Engineer at Sanera Systems (acquired by McData/Brocade)
- **2004-2005** — Role at Nemo Systems
- **2005-2012** — Senior Director Engineering at Nuova Systems (acquired by Cisco Systems)
- **2012-2018** — CEO and Founder at Diamanti (hyperconverged infrastructure for Kubernetes)
- **2018** — Co-founded Sonatus with Yu Fang to build software-defined vehicle platforms
- **2021** — Sonatus raises $35 million Series A; announces Hyundai Motor Group partnership
- **2022** — Sonatus and Hyundai win 2022 PACE Innovation Partnership Award
- **2022** — Sonatus raises $75 million round led by Foxconn, total funding exceeds $110M
- **2023** — Platform deployed in mass production Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia vehicles
- **2025** — Sonatus platform active in 6+ million vehicles; showcased AI solutions at CES 2025 and IAA Mobility 2025

## Achievements

- Co-founded Sonatus in 2018; scaled it to 6+ million vehicles in production by 2025
- Raised over $110 million in funding from Foxconn, Hyundai/Kia, LG Electronics, Marvell, NEC, and leading VCs
- Won the 2022 PACE Innovation Partnership Award with Hyundai Motor Group
- Led two generations of Sonatus products into mass production with Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia
- Previously led engineering at Nuova Systems, acquired by Cisco Systems
- Founded Diamanti (2012-2018), a Kubernetes-native hyperconverged infrastructure company
- Part of engineering team at Granite Systems, acquired by Cisco
- Part of engineering team at Sanera Systems, acquired by Brocade
- Recognized on Forbes America's Best Startup Employers list (Sonatus)
- Sonatus earned a CES 2022 Innovation Award for the Digital Dynamics Vehicle Platform

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Jeff Chou presented at IAA Mobility 2025, discussing AI applications in vehicles beyond autonomous driving, including cybersecurity and battery management optimization.
- **2025-01** — Jeff Chou and CMO John Heinlein introduced Sonatus at CES 2025, showcasing the expanded Sonatus Vehicle Platform and new AI solutions and partners.
- **2025-01** — Sonatus platform surpassed 6 million vehicles in production deployment globally.
- **2023-09** — Sonatus announced additional funding, bringing total raised to over $110 million.

## Links

- Website: https://sonatus.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffpchou
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sonatushq
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sonatusinc

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jeffrey-chou
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-19