Synaptics’ Founder Carver Mead Honored with 2022 Kyoto Prize — Japan’s Highest Private Award for Global Achievement

Carver Mead, Kyoto Prize Honoree, Demonstrates His First Chip Design in CalTech Lab

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Synaptics^® Incorporated (Nasdaq: SYNA) today announced that one of its co-founders, electronics engineer and applied physicist Carver Mead, Ph.D., the Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus, at California Institute of Technology, has been named the 2022 Kyoto Prize laureate in Advanced Technology. An international award bestowed by the non-profit Inamori Foundation to honor those who have contributed significantly to humankind’s scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment, the Kyoto Prize was also bestowed upon Mead’s fellow Synaptics founder Federico Faggin in 1997.

According to the Inamori Foundation, Mead’s pioneering contributions to the field of electronics include proposing and promoting a new methodology to divide the design process of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) systems into logic, circuit, and layout designs, and separating them from the manufacturing process. He also contributed greatly to the advancement of computer-aided design technology, paving the way to VLSI design automation which in turn led to the rapid development of the semiconductor industry.

Mead and Faggin formed Synaptics more than thirty years ago to commercialize their ideas around combining semiconductor technology, neural networks, and artificial intelligence (AI) to build systems that compute as effectively as the human brain. Their work subsequently led to a series of innovations in human-machine interfaces, including touchpads. That work continues to this day, albeit with a greatly expanded mandate that encompasses the Internet of Things (IoT), including automotive, consumer, enterprise, and industrial applications. True to its roots, Synaptics is applying wireless connectivity, sensing, video, display, and low-power processing technologies toward the ultimate goal of engineering exceptional experiences for its customers.

“It is an honor to receive the Kyoto prize this year for my work in the field of electronics,” said Mead. “While we knew we were on to something important and long-lasting when we founded Synaptics, neither co-founder Federico Faggin nor I expected to be recognized for our vision with such a prestigious and meaningful award.”

“The Kyoto Prize is one of the highest achievements in the world, and to have two of our company’s founders recognized with the honor is rare and a tribute to the legacy they began at Synaptics 30 years ago,” said Michael Hurlston, President and CEO of Synaptics. “I congratulate Carver on this award that recognizes and celebrates his immeasurable contributions to the electronics industry that have benefited and inspired many and have led to Synaptics’ ongoing success.”

About Carver Mead
A Caltech alumnus, Carver Mead earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the Institute and began teaching at the Institute in 1958. He holds over 80 U.S. patents and has written over 100 scientific publications. Mead and computer engineer Lynn Conway co-wrote the seminal text on the subject, Introduction to VLSI Systems, which was first published in 1978 and is the world standard textbook for chip design.

About the Inamori Foundation and the Kyoto Prize
The Kyoto Prize is an international award bestowed by the non-profit Inamori Foundation to honor those who have contributed significantly to humankind’s scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment. The Foundation was established in 1984 by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera Corporation; founder and honorary adviser to KDDI Corporation; and chairman emeritus and honorary adviser to Japan Airlines. Inamori created the Kyoto Prize in line with his belief that a human being has no higher calling than to strive for the greater good of humanity and the world, and that the future of humanity can be assured only through a balance of scientific progress and spiritual depth. Counting the 2022 recipients, the prize has honored 118 laureates worldwide — 117 individuals and one group (the Nobel Foundation). Individual laureates range from scientists, engineers, and researchers to philosophers, painters, architects, sculptors, musicians, and film directors. For more information, see: https://www.kyotoprize.org/en.

About Synaptics Incorporated:
Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) is changing how humans engage with connected devices and data by engineering exceptional experiences throughout the home, at work, in the car, and on the go. Synaptics is the partner of choice for the world’s most innovative intelligent system providers who are integrating multiple experiential technologies into platforms that make our digital lives more productive, insightful, secure, and enjoyable. These customers combine Synaptics’ differentiated technologies in touch, display, and biometrics with a new generation of advanced connectivity and AI-enhanced video, vision, audio, speech, and security processing. Follow Synaptics on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, or visit www.synaptics.com. 

Synaptics, and the Synaptics logo are trademarks of Synaptics in the United States and/or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact
Synaptics Inc.
Patrick Mannion
Dir. of External PR and Technical Communications
+1 631-678-1015
patrick.mannion@synaptics.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3360c257-c190-41ac-92f6-2708caf6ff1d