Apex Expo 2025 Keynotes

AI, Automation and the Digital Transformation

Discover where artificial intelligence stands today, where it's headed, and how you can participate. Witness robots and algorithms achieving real-world success and learn about the processes that can transform your company starting now—nothing to fear, it's just math! You'll laugh out loud while also being prompted to think deeply, leaving with fresh insights ready to implement. As AI, IoT, and cloud computing represent the most significant technological shifts in decades, understanding what they are, how they work, and the practical knowledge you can apply today is crucial. Those who embrace these innovations will effortlessly outpace their competition. Regardless of your industry, integrating these technologies into your business is easier than you might think. You'll learn how to reach the "Center of Annihilation" and much more in this engaging, fun, and energetic talk!

BIO: Kevin, known as the father of the Virtual Assistant, is a Silicon Valley “disruptive” innovator and leader in the application of AI with 94 worldwide patents. He was INC Magazines’ Entrepreneur of the Year, a CNBC top Innovator of the Decade, World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, featured for 5 years on TechTV’s Silicon Spin, and inducted into RIT’s Innovation Hall of Fame. 

He led pioneering work on the first cellular data smartphone, the first AI virtual assistants (like Siri), the first generative AI in software testing and many artificial intelligence inventions.

3D Integration and Chiplets: An edge AI perspective 

Advances in semiconductor technology and packaging have accelerated further since CMOS scaling has slowed down.  Analog and mixed signal circuits and systems have utilized a variety of processes such as BCD, SiGe and Wide bandgap semiconductors to address diverse applications in power, RF, precision, and high voltage.  Also, MEMS nanotechnology relies on many advances in CMOS manufacturing but doesn’t depend on cutting edge lithography.  Edge AI sensing applications bring together diverse technologies such as MEMs transducers, RF connectivity, power management, ML engines and analog frontend in one package or module. The coexistence of multiple technologies in a single chip or module has fueled many innovations on advance packaging techniques such as 2.5D and 3D integration. Wafer level packaging and hybrid bonding promise to bring the efficiency of silicon fabrication to packaging flow. In this talk, we review the impact of 3D integration on system performance and assembly of system in package and modules with particular attention to edge AI sensing.

BIO: Ahmad Bahai is a senior vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) of Texas Instruments responsible for guiding break-through innovation, corporate research and Kilby Labs.

Dr. Bahai is a Professor of the Practice at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IEEE Fellow and a member of Industrial Advisory Committee of Chips Act. He also served in President Council of Advisors on Science and Technology semiconductor working group. He was an Adjunct professor at Stanford University from 2017-2022 and a professor in residence at UC Berkeley from 2001-2010.
 

Throughout his career, Dr. Bahai has held a number of leadership roles including director of research labs and chief technology officer of National Semiconductor, technical manager of a research group at Bell Laboratories and founder of Algorex, a communication and acoustic IC and system company, which was acquired by National Semiconductor.

He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London and a doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Electronics: the Resource Transforming the Global Economy

Dr. John W. Mitchell, IPC President and CEO, will share how electronics are the critical resource for the continued growth of the global economy.  Dr. Mitchell will discuss the role of industry, governments and global bodies in resolving supply chain, sustainability, technology and information challenges and propose solutions allowing electronics to continue to transform how we live, work and communicate successfully.

BIO: Dr. John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO, best-selling author, is a leading expert on solving global workforce issues. A big-picture thinker who routinely works with global leaders from more than 3,000 companies worldwide, Dr. Mitchell has made it his mission to bring innovative and original systems and frameworks to hiring, developing, and retaining talent. In his keynote talks, Dr. Mitchell shares inspiring stories of companies and organizations that have adapted to fundamental workforce changes by focusing on what matters most – the human beings they hired. He delivers the key business strategies and management directions to recruit and retain the best talent for your companies. Whether you’re a seasoned CEO or a workplace neophyte, Dr. Mitchell can help you build a successful workplace in a rapidly changing landscape. He will share practical, actionable insights that you can implement immediately.