# Sam Heidari

> Dr. Sam Heidari is the CEO of Lumotive, a Redmond, Washington semiconductor company building programmable, all-silicon lidar chips based on its patented Light Control Metasurface technology. An electrical engineer with a PhD from USC and more than 40 patents, Heidari previously ran Wi-Fi chipmaker Quantenna Communications, taking it from zero revenue to a 2016 IPO and a roughly $1 billion sale to ON Semiconductor in 2019. He now serves on and chairs several technology boards and is turning Lumotive's software-defined optics from a lab breakthrough into mass-produced 3D sensing hardware.

- **Role:** CEO at Lumotive
- **Organizations:** Lumotive, SiTune Corporation, Aerial Technologies, Cota Capital, Quantenna Communications, Ikanos Communications, Doradus Technologies, Morse Micro, Haila Technologies, BigStream
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, B.S., Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University
- **Known for:** Grew Quantenna Communications from zero revenue to more than $200M and a 2016 Nasdaq IPO, Led Quantenna to a roughly $1 billion acquisition by ON Semiconductor in 2019, Holds more than 40 U.S. and international patents in semiconductors and communications

## Career timeline

- **1990s-2000s** — One of the original team members and CTO at Ikanos Communications, contributing to its IPO
- **2006** — Rejoined Ikanos via its acquisition of Doradus Technologies, where he was president and CEO
- **2009** — Joined Quantenna Communications as VP of R&D, leading Wi-Fi technology innovation
- **2011** — Appointed CEO of Quantenna Communications
- **2016** — Led Quantenna to its IPO on Nasdaq
- **2019** — Quantenna acquired by ON Semiconductor for roughly $1 billion
- **2021** — Named CEO of Lumotive on October 20, 2021
- **2025** — Led Lumotive's $45M raise and opened offices in Oman and Taiwan to scale commercialization

## Achievements

- Grew Quantenna Communications from zero revenue to more than $200M and a 2016 Nasdaq IPO
- Led Quantenna to a roughly $1 billion acquisition by ON Semiconductor in 2019
- Holds more than 40 U.S. and international patents in semiconductors and communications
- Senior member of the IEEE
- 2014 Executive of the Year (Golden Bridge Awards) and 2017 Executive of the Year (UBM)
- Served on the Global Semiconductor Alliance Board of Directors
- Advisory board member for USC's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments
- Leading Lumotive's Light Control Metasurface platform, including the world's first 2D photonic beamforming semiconductor

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Lumotive raised $45M (Series B) and partnered with E-Photonics to expand LiDAR and 3D sensing manufacturing, announced at LEAP 2025 in Riyadh.
- **2025-01** — Lumotive opened offices in Oman and Taiwan to accelerate commercialization of its optical 3D sensor chips.

## Links

- Website: https://lumotive.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/samheidari
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-QY232BYA

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sam-heidari
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-29