Raja Manickam

Founder and CEO, iVP Semi

Raja is an IIT Kharagpur graduate and veteran in Product Engineering, Factory Engineering, and Business Development. Having worked with semiconductor pioneers and staples such as Texas Instruments, Fairchild/National Semiconductor, STATS ChipPac, and UTAC, Raja wanted to utilize his skillset and the depth of engineering talent in India to position the country as a leader in all aspects of the global semiconductor ecosystem. With this mission Raja started Tessolve in 2003, providing Test and Design services headquartered out of Bengaluru. Today, Tessolve has crossed the 1,000-crore annual revenue mark, establishing itself as a global semiconductor solutions leader. After his successful sale of Tessolve to Hero Electronix, Raja was tapped to become the first CEO of TATA Electronics OSAT signifying India’s push to become a global semiconductor leader.
In 2023, he founded Ponni Tech Consultants (PTC) by bringing together a group of semiconductor factory experts with a goal of expanding the semiconductor ecosystem especially throughout emerging tech markets like India. Raja founded iVP Semi in 2024 to localize semiconductor chip production, empower Indian companies to improve product development cycles and achieve greater technological autonomy. His dream is to create demand for product developers, solution architects, equipment makers, material suppliers, infrastructure builders, and ecosystem partners to come to India, leveraging its cost advantages, deep domain talent, and rapidly growing market.