Sejal Patel Daswani to oversee Ayar Labs' people strategy. By Arun Kumar June 15, 2026 3 Mins Read Ayar Labs, a leading co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions for AI scale-up, has named high impact operations Indian American executive Sejal Patel Daswani as Chief People and Operations Officer. In this newly created role, Daswani will oversee Ayar Labs' people strategy as well as operations as the company continues to expand globally and advance its technology to meet hyperscaler deployment requirements, the San Jose, California based company announced. Daswani brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across people, operations and corporate innovation in the technology, cleantech and software industries, according to a company release. She has led large-scale global growth initiatives, built high-performing teams and supported companies through major operational inflection points. At Ayar Labs, Daswani will focus on building the people, systems and operating discipline needed for the company's next stage of growth. Her priorities include scaling global operations, strengthening talent and organizational infrastructure, and integrating AI into business operations as the company prepares to bring its technology to market at scale. "Sejal stood out immediately for her ability to connect company strategy with the people, systems and operating model required to scale," said Mark Wade, CEO and co-founder of Ayar Labs. "That is exactly what Ayar Labs needs as we move from breakthrough innovation to commercial scale and expand our global operations." "Solving the AI infrastructure bottleneck requires a rigorous operating model to match world-class innovation. I am thrilled to join Ayar Labs at this critical inflection point," Daswani said. "I look forward to scaling our global workforce and building the disciplined operational framework needed for our next phase of hyper-growth." Daswani most recently served as Chief People Officer at Deputy, a global HR technology software company, where she led global people strategy and guided future-of-work initiatives. Previously, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Sunrun, where she supported the company's rapid growth from 4,000 to 14,000 employees and played a leadership role in the $3.2 billion acquisition of Vivint Solar. She has held senior leadership roles at Visa and Pfizer, and currently serves as an advisor to SemperVirens Venture Capital, PeopleTech Partners and Kindred Minds. Daswani holds a dual MBA/MPA from MIT and Harvard University, as well as degrees in Biology and International Affairs from Columbia University. The appointment comes as momentum accelerates to bring co-packaged optics (CPO) to AI infrastructure, including Ayar Labs recently joining NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion ecosystem and its partnership with Wiwynn to bring CPO to rack-scale AI systems. In her combined people and operations role, Daswani will help scale teams, systems and execution across global markets. Ayar Labs is rapidly expanding its engineering and operations teams to meet the immediate demand for co-packaged optics.

Ayar Labs, a leader in co-packaged optics solutions for AI infrastructure, has appointed Sejal Daswani as Chief People and Operations Officer. In this newly created role, Daswani will oversee people strategy and operations as the company expands globally and prepares for hyperscaler deployment. Daswani brings over 20 years of leadership experience across technology, cleantech and software industries. Most recently, she served as Chief People Officer at Deputy and previously held the role of Chief Human Resources Officer at Sunrun, where she supported growth from 4,000 to 14,000 employees and led people strategy during the $3.2 billion acquisition of Vivint Solar. The appointment follows Ayar Labs' recent partnership with Wiwynn and joining NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion ecosystem as the company scales its co-packaged optics technology.

Nvidia has invested at least $6.5 billion in photonics technology companies over three months to address AI deployment bottlenecks. The chipmaker put $2 billion each into Lumentum and Coherent, $500 million into Corning, and participated in Ayer Labs' $500 million funding round. Photonics uses light rather than electricity for data transfer, offering greater efficiency and lower energy consumption. The substantial investment reflects Nvidia's strategy to overcome infrastructure constraints limiting AI system rollout.