In an exclusive interview with Electronics Buzz, Taher Madraswala, Senior Strategic Client Partner at Quest Global, shares insights on how AI-driven semiconductor trends, cloud partnerships, and end-to-end solutions are shaping the industry. He discusses Quest Global’s focus on turnkey and ASIC projects, addressing challenges like talent shortages and IP security while driving innovation in chip design, high-performance computing, and autonomous systems.
Read the full interview here:
Electronics Buzz: What industry trends have driven Quest Global’s focus on turnkey and ASIC projects in semiconductor design?
Taher: We are witnessing large-scale transformations across the semiconductor industry, which is expected to hit the trillion-dollar mark by 2030. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has resulted in the demand for more complex chips that are customized for specific applications. For example, Autonomous Driving completely relies on AI to infer objects, distance, velocity, light etc. and it needs ASICs that can help the car make real time decisions based on these factors. Robotics and Medical Industry are two other areas where ASICs have become quintessential components for enhancing productivity and accuracy of work performed. As High-Performance Computing (HPC) demands soar, so does the need for specialized semiconductor solutions. The semiconductor industry has seen traditional boundaries blur, with chip manufacturers expanding beyond semiconductor design into platform development and complete solutions to address product requirements. This transformation has created a strong demand for teams that have both HW and SW skills under one roof, aligning perfectly with Quest Global’s focus on turnkey and ASIC projects.
Electronics Buzz: How has your leadership journey, including time at Intel and Open-Silicon, shaped your approach to growing Quest’s semiconductor business?
Taher: Intel taught me how to organize and motivate a high performing chip design team that can send a chip for fabrication every month. Intel’s disciplined approach to designing chips that can be manufactured in high volume, helped us create a repeatable methodology that produced predictable results. At Open-Silicon, I learned a lot about supply-chain management, customer management, P&L management and a whole lot of business practices which helped us grow our revenue from $0 to over $100M. Together, these two companies have given me the foundational skills which allow me to build our semiconductor business at Quest Global. We have put together a best-in-class design team that follows a rigorous checklist to ensure on-time tapeouts and quality silicon that can be manufactured in large quantities. Our ASIC development team is committed to ship silicon with DPPM rates that is the envy of the industry.
Electronics Buzz: How do Quest Global’s end-to-end services for SoC and ASIC development help companies accelerate their engineering efforts?
Taher: At Quest Global, we champion an all-encompassing “Silicon to Systems to Cloud” approach. This covers the entire lifecycle from engineering and production to delivery. Additionally, we offer system integrations and platform solutions along with SDKs, frameworks, and designs that empower our customer to derive maximum benefit from the latest semiconductor technologies. With the aid of our enhanced cloud capabilities, we convert standalone hardware into interconnected platforms equipped with data analytics and predictive maintenance. Our experience spans industries such as automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, energy, transport and medical. This cross-industry experience allows us to leverage our skills in solving some of the hardest engineering problems of this world.
Our End-to-end services for System-on-Chip (SoC) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) development help our clients improve their chip, software and board architecture, and reduce multi-vendor dependency, which results in fewer delays. By offering a one-stop solution, we also help our partners reduce risk and complexity with the help of a seamless workflow. Our silicon validation processes involve mixed-mode SW+HW simulations that drastically reduce the chances of performance issues or expensive silicon re-spins. Quest Global’s business solutions are designed to be flexible and scalable while optimizing resource consumption and leveraging the latest developments in semiconductor manufacturing technologies.
Electronics Buzz: What are the biggest challenges in semiconductor design today, and how does Quest Global address them through its capabilities?
Taher: Apart from traditional obstacles, we are observing several new challenges in the semiconductor space. For instance, there is a global resource constraint for chip and system designers. It is predicted that India alone needs additional 300K chip designers by 2030. This high demand creates talent retention challenges that limits an enterprises’ ability to balance the support of existing product lines with the development of new solutions. Another area of concern is that of data and IP security, which can get compromised with constant movement of talent between companies.
At Quest Global, we address and overcome these challenges largely by leveraging our multi-decade experience of training people with domain knowledge across diverse industries to keep the supply-demand curve balanced. Our philosophy of ‘Design by AI and Design for AI’ helps reduce cost of development and limits access to critical IP to ensure IP protection. This helps us deliver specific, tailored solutions while adhering to strict security certifications. Working with the aerospace and telecommunications sectors, security is of utmost importance to us, and we take this element very seriously.
Electronics Buzz: How do partnerships with cloud leaders like Microsoft, AWS, and Google enhance Quest Global’s semiconductor solutions?
Taher: As the semiconductor industry leverages the benefits of cloud computing to speed up the manufacturing and verification of new products, we are enhancing our long-standing, key strategic partnerships with global leaders in cloud. These collaborations are a vital cog in our wide range of offering. For example, our partnerships help us extend cloud-based Electronic Design Automation and scalable computing to our clients across locations.
We are deploying our cloud-based enhancements such as predictive failure analysis that alerts systems to defects proactively to help reduce machine down-time. We are seeing more secure and collaborative chip design ecosystems with faster tape-out and quicker post-silicon validation. These partnerships are helping us provide versatile solutions that use on-demand computing, which is more secure, and cost-effective.
Electronics Buzz: What is your vision for Quest Global’s semiconductor division’s growth and innovation over the next five years?
Taher: We have a strategic direction focused on maintaining technical excellence while building strong ecosystem partnerships. Quest Global is positioned to enhance our AI integration capabilities in both design processes and platform solutions, while strengthening our industry-specific expertise. We place emphasis on the importance of balancing innovation with legacy product maintenance and a future focused on comprehensive service delivery across the silicon value chain. Our commitment is to develop solutions that bridge silicon design capabilities with end-customer requirements, while maintaining security and quality standards across diverse industry sectors.
