# Sanjai Kohli

> Sanjai Kohli is the CEO of CSpeed Inc., a Palo Alto silicon photonics company building the future of datacenter connectivity. Best known as the architect of mass-market GPS, he co-founded SiRF Technology in 1995, whose chips eventually powered more than 70% of the world's consumer GPS devices. An IEEE Fellow and European Inventor Award winner, he holds dozens of US patents and has spent three decades founding and running companies in wireless, GPS, robotics and now AI networking.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at CSpeed Inc.
- **Organizations:** CSpeed Inc., Sutter Hill Ventures, MIPS Technologies (Wave Computing), Visible, Inovi, Geoverify, TrueSpan, WirelessHome, SiRF Technology
- **From:** India
- **Nationality:** American (Indian-born)
- **Education:** B.Tech, Aeronautical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, M.S., Systems Science, Washington University in St. Louis
- **Known for:** Architect of mass-market GPS - dubbed 'father of mass market GPS' by The Times of India, Co-inventor of the Chen-Kohli GPS Spread Spectrum Receiver (1995), European Inventor Award, Industry category (2010)

## Career timeline

- **1979** — Graduated B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT Bombay
- **1981** — Completed M.S. in Systems Science at Washington University in St. Louis
- **1995** — Co-founded SiRF Technology with Kanwar Chadha; began work on the Chen-Kohli GPS Spread Spectrum Receiver
- **1999** — Founded WirelessHome, pioneering the last-mile wireless market
- **2002** — SiRF Technology IPO
- **2003** — WirelessHome reached ~40% last-mile wireless market share
- **2007** — SiRF chips captured over 70% of the global GPS semiconductor and software market
- **2008** — Left SiRF; CSR plc later acquired SiRF
- **2010** — Won the European Inventor Award (Industry category) with Steven Chen
- **2012** — Named IEEE Fellow
- **2014** — Inovi acquired by Facebook (became basis for Terragraph)
- **2019** — Appointed CEO of Wave Computing / MIPS
- **2021** — Joined Sutter Hill Ventures as Entrepreneur in Residence
- **2023** — Became CEO of CSpeed Inc., a silicon photonics company in Palo Alto

## Achievements

- Architect of mass-market GPS - dubbed 'father of mass market GPS' by The Times of India
- Co-inventor of the Chen-Kohli GPS Spread Spectrum Receiver (1995)
- European Inventor Award, Industry category (2010)
- IEEE Fellow (2012)
- Alumni Achievement Award, Washington University in St. Louis
- Distinguished Alumnus, IIT Bombay
- Holds approximately 60 US patents in GPS and communications
- Co-founded SiRF Technology (NASDAQ IPO 2002)
- Founded WirelessHome - 40% last-mile wireless market share by 2003
- Co-founded Inovi - acquired by Facebook in 2014

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Leading CSpeed Inc. in Palo Alto, focused on silicon photonics for AI and datacenter connectivity (approx. 54 employees).

## Links

- Website: https://cspeed.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjai-kohli-8a39baa/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stkZlHK0YIU

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sanjai-kohli
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-15