2010 Distinguished Alumni Award

For leadership in electronic design automation industry.

Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang

MSEE ’86, PhD ’89

Apache Design Solutions

San Jose, California

Andrew Yang co-founded Apache Design Solutions in 2001 and has served as the CEO since its inception. Apache provides leading power and noise EDA solutions for chip, package, and system designs. The company was ranked as one of the top 15 fastest growing software/IT companies in the Silicon Valley in 2008, and one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America in 2009 by Deloitte’s Fast 50 and 500 programs. Apache’s low-power products have been adopted by 90% of the top 25 semiconductor companies in their signoff flow. The company currently operates 16 branch offices worldwide with over 250 full-time employees.

From 1998 to 2002, Andrew was a lead investor and a board member for CADMOS (acquired by Cadence), Innologic (acquired by Synopsys), Ultima (acquired by Cadence), and Mojave (acquired by Magma). In 1993, Andrew founded Anagram, providing high-capacity circuit simulation for submicron ICs. In 1996, Anagram was acquired by Avanti, and Andrew served as the vice president responsible for IC extraction, simulation, and analysis products until 1998.

Andrew was a tenured professor at the University of Washington from 1989 to 1996. He received the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2001, Professor of the Year award in 1992, and Chair’s Circle of Excellence in 1998.

Andrew received the Robert T. Chien Memorial Research Award from ECE ILLINOIS in 1989.