# Sohail Syed

> Sohail Syed is the CEO, President, and co-founder of DreamBig Semiconductor, a San Jose-based fabless chip startup he built into a chiplet platform pioneer before its $265M acquisition by Arm in October 2025. A serial entrepreneur from Pakistan who attended NED University and later earned an MBA from Cornell, Syed previously founded Questarium (acquired by Marvell) and FIRQuest (acquired by Corigine), and at Marvell helped grow a network switches business to $4 billion in revenue across 10 successful chip tapeouts. DreamBig's MARS Open Chiplet Platform - unveiled at CES 2024 - democratizes silicon development for AI, data centers, automotive, and edge computing, and the company raised $75M in a Samsung-led Series B in July 2024 before the Arm deal closed.

- **Role:** CEO and President at DreamBig Semiconductor Inc. (acquired by Arm)
- **Organizations:** DreamBig Semiconductor Inc., Arm Holdings (post-acquisition), Marvell Semiconductor, Corigine Inc., FIRQuest, Questarium
- **From:** Pakistan
- **Nationality:** Pakistani-American
- **Education:** Engineering (B.E.), NED University of Engineering and Technology, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Cornell University
- **Known for:** Founded and sold DreamBig Semiconductor to Arm Holdings for $265M (2025), Raised $75M Series B co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund in July 2024 at DreamBig, Launched MARS Open Chiplet Platform at CES 2024, a world-first open chiplet hub

## Career timeline

- **1995-1998** — Sr. ASIC Verification Engineer at Mentor Graphics
- **1998-2002** — Sr. Application Engineer at Mentor Graphics
- **2002-2010** — Technical Account Manager and Worldwide Teams Manager at Virage Logic
- **2010-2011** — Worldwide Field Applications at eSilicon
- **2011-2012** — Founder and CEO of Questarium; acquired by Marvell Semiconductor
- **2012-2015** — Senior Director of Engineering at Marvell Semiconductor; helped grow network switches business to $4B revenue; 10 successful chip tapeouts
- **2015-2016** — Founder and CEO of FIRQuest; MBA from Cornell University
- **2016-2019** — VP Engineering at Corigine Inc. (post-FIRQuest acquisition)
- **2019** — Founded DreamBig Semiconductor Inc. in San Jose, California
- **2024-01** — Unveiled MARS Open Chiplet Platform at CES 2024
- **2024-07** — Closed $75M Series B co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund
- **2025-01** — Unveiled Mercury AI-SuperNIC with 12.8 Tbps bandwidth
- **2025-10** — Arm agreed to acquire DreamBig Semiconductor for $265M
- **2025-11** — Arm acquisition of DreamBig announced publicly; expected to close Q4 FY2026

## Achievements

- Founded and sold DreamBig Semiconductor to Arm Holdings for $265M (2025)
- Raised $75M Series B co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund in July 2024 at DreamBig
- Launched MARS Open Chiplet Platform at CES 2024, a world-first open chiplet hub
- Founded Questarium, acquired by Marvell Semiconductor
- Founded FIRQuest, acquired by Corigine
- Helped build Marvell's network switches division to $4 billion in revenue with 10 successful chip tapeouts
- Built DreamBig from zero to 200+ employees with design centers in San Jose, Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad
- Partnered with Samsung Foundry for 4nm FinFET chip manufacturing
- Established design center partnership with NUST (Pakistan) to develop semiconductor talent
- Mercury AI-SuperNIC delivers up to 12.8 Tbps bandwidth for AI data center networking

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Arm Holdings agreed to acquire DreamBig Semiconductor for $265M; deal expected to close by end of Q4 FY2026 (March 2026)
- **2025-01** — DreamBig unveiled Mercury AI-SuperNIC, a monolithic chip delivering 12.8 Tbps bandwidth enabling AI chips to connect via chiplet-compatible component
- **2024-07** — DreamBig closed $75M Series B co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Sutardja Family
- **2024-01** — DreamBig unveiled MARS Open Chiplet Platform at CES 2024 in Las Vegas

## Links

- Website: https://www.dreambigsemi.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohailabbas4

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sohail-syed
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-11