Principal DFT Engineer
About the job
- A bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field is required; a master's degree is preferred.
- At least 12 years of experience in DFT design, implementation, and verification for complex ASIC/SoC designs.
- Proven experience leading DFT activities across full-chip development cycles.
- Deep expertise in Scan, MBIST, LBIST, JTAG/iJTAG, and ATPG DFT techniques.
- Strong understanding of DFT and Physical Design flows, including timing implications and integration challenges.
- Experience with industry-standard DFT tools such as Siemens Tessent, Synopsys TestMAX, or equivalent.
- Solid experience with DFT verification methodologies and coverage analysis.
- Strong scripting skills in Tcl, Python, or Perl for automation and flow development.
- Define and own DFT architecture for complex SoCs, including Scan, MBIST, LBIST, JTAG/iJTAG, and ATPG strategies.
- Lead DFT planning, specification, and quality tracking across the project lifecycle.
- Provide technical leadership and drive DFT sign-off readiness to ensure successful tapeout.
- Lead DFT implementation, integration, and verification at block, full-chip, and chiplet levels.
- Own end-to-end DFT activities from specification through silicon bring-up and production support.
- Ensure high test coverage, robust pattern generation, and alignment with manufacturing requirements.
- Develop and drive scalable DFT methodologies, flows, and automation frameworks.
- Collaborate with RTL, Physical Design, STA, and Test Engineering teams to ensure design-for-test readiness.
- Optimize DFT integration across front-end and backend flows to improve quality, PPA, and turnaround time.
- Experience with advanced process nodes of 7nm and below.
- Background in high-speed connectivity designs such as PCIe, Ethernet, CXL, or similar.
- Experience with hierarchical DFT methodologies and large multi-die or chiplet-based systems.
- Knowledge of silicon bring-up, production test flows, and yield optimization.
- Familiarity with STA, low-power design, and CDC as they relate to DFT integration.
- Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams globally.
About the company
Astera Labs designs chips and hardware modules that move data between processors, memory and accelerators in data centers. Its customers include cloud providers, chip vendors and equipment makers building servers and large computing clusters for AI and other workloads. Retimers restore signal quality, switches connect devices and memory controllers expand the memory available to computing systems, while COSMOS software monitors and manages these links. The company sells its products directly and through distributors, using outside manufacturers to fabricate and assemble its hardware. Astera Labs was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Santa Clara, California
Founded
2017
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Revenue grew rapidly: Astera's August 2026 release reported preliminary Q2 revenue of $392.4 million, up 104% yearly.
- Memory products broadened: Astera announced three new Leo controllers in September 2026, with the family sampling to hyperscalers.
- Managers have a published pay band: Astera's live San Jose Ethernet applications role lists base pay of $158,400 to $230,000.
What critics are saying
- Revenue is concentrated: Astera's February 2026 filing says three end customers generated 86% of fiscal 2025 revenue.
- Chip production has one foundry: Astera's annual filing says TSMC fabricates all its integrated circuits.
- Customer support involves travel: Astera's live San Jose Ethernet applications manager role requires travel within the US and Asia.
What makes Astera Labs unique
- Hardware health is visible: Astera's COSMOS software monitors link performance, temperature and signal quality across systems.
- Switches connect large clusters: Astera's Scorpio X-Series supports up to 80 accelerators per switch across 320 data lanes.
- Integration gets tested early: Astera's Cloud-Scale Interop Lab checks switches against diverse PCIe hosts and endpoints.
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Benefits
401(k) Retirement Plan
Flexible Work Hours
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
5%1 year growth
2%2 year growth
2%Astera Labs (Nasdaq: ALAB) has unveiled Orion, a modular rack-scale reference design that lets customers choose their own GPUs and CPUs. The designs target neoclouds and enterprises building AI inference capacity. Orion's PCIe switch fabric scales from 8 to 160 accelerators per pod. It includes six reference designs, covering the rack, compute tray, fabric tray, memory tray, link board, and compute board, all managed by Astera's COSMOS software. Astera Labs will not build the racks. Original design manufacturer and original equipment manufacturer partners will make and sell them, with availability expected from Q1 2027. The company will show a powered Orion rack at the Open Compute Project Global Summit in San Jose, October 12-15. It plans to extend Orion to other open interconnects, including UALink.
Lumentum, Astera Labs, and Corning to demonstrate 1060 nm vcsel-based PCIe over optics for AI rack-scale connectivity at the 2026 OCP Global Summit. Stock score locked: want to see it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Joint rack-level demonstration combines Astera Labs Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch, Lumentum high-density VCSEL optical interconnect platform, and Corning multimode fiber connectivity Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE), Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB), and Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) today announced a joint demonstration of PCIe-over-optics connectivity for AI rack-scale architectures at the 2026 OCP Global Summit in San Jose, California. The rack-level demonstration combines an Astera Labs Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch with Lumentum's 1060 nm VCSEL-based optical interconnect platform and Corning multimode fiber connectivity. The demonstration will be available at Astera Labs booth #B34 from October 12-15. The demonstration will showcase fully operational optical links that use VCSEL transmitters and photodetectors to extend PCIe connectivity within an AI rack. By transporting PCIe over many parallel optical channels, the architecture is designed to help address the reach, cable density, signal integrity, power, and thermal constraints that can limit conventional electrical interconnects as rack-scale AI systems grow. The optical interconnect uses high-density 1060 nm VCSEL and photodetector arrays implemented with advanced packaging, including two-dimensional arrays with backside lens technology. Built on Lumentum's ultra-high-volume manufacturing platform in 3D sensing for smartphone devices, it is designed to support high bandwidth density, strong signal integrity, and efficient optical connectivity for rack-level AI architectures. Astera Labs' Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch provides the switching element for the demonstration, showing how optical connectivity can extend reach within rack-scale AI systems while preserving a PCIe-based architecture. The proof-of-concept system is designed to demonstrate multiple 32 Gb/s NRZ optical channels over Corning multimode fiber and an error-free PCIe-5 link. The configuration combines a high-density Lumentum optical engine with Astera Labs' Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch in a rack-representative system arrangement. "AI infrastructure is pushing optical connectivity closer to the compute system where reach, density, and power represent significant challenges," said Matt Sysak, Chief Technology Officer, Lumentum. "This demonstration with Astera Labs and Corning shows how Lumentum's 1060 nm VCSEL platform can extend PCIe connectivity and unlock a whole new class of functionality." "As AI clusters scale to unprecedented levels, we are breaking the constraints of single rack-level architectures," said Adit Narasimha, Senior Vice President, Signal Connectivity Group, Astera Labs. "This demonstration shows how VCSEL-based front-end optics are enabled by Astera Labs' Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch and COSMOS link intelligence to deliver lower latency, improve power efficiency, increase bandwidth density, and overcome connectivity bottlenecks across rack-scale AI systems." "As optical links move closer to compute devices, fiber connectivity must support increasing density, precision, and scalability," said Claude Echahamian, Vice President and General Manager, Emerging Businesses and EMEA, Corning Optical Communications. "Corning's multimode fiber solutions and industry-leading MMC connectivity help enable this demonstration and support the evolution of high-density optical interconnects for AI infrastructure. As AI clusters continue to grow in size and complexity, Corning is committed to developing fiber and connectivity technologies that enable emerging compute networks and smart fabric architectures." About Lumentum Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) is a global leader in optical and photonic technologies that power the networks and infrastructure behind AI, cloud computing, and next-generation communications. Built on decades of photonics innovation, Lumentum delivers high-performance lasers, modules, and optical subsystems that enable scalable, energy-efficient data center connectivity, advanced telecom networks, industrial manufacturing, and sensing applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company operates R&D, manufacturing, and sales facilities worldwide. Learn more at www.lumentum.com. About Astera Labs Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs' Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL(R), Ethernet, NVLink Fusion, PCIe(R), and UALink(TM) semiconductor-based technologies with the company's COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up and scale-out connectivity. The company's custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com. About Corning Incorporated Corning (www.corning.com) is one of the world's leading innovators in materials science, with a 175-year track record of life-changing inventions. Corning applies its unparalleled expertise in glass science, ceramic science, and optical physics, along with its deep manufacturing and engineering capabilities to develop category-defining products that transform industries and enhance people's lives. Corning succeeds through sustained investment in RD&E, a unique combination of material and process innovation, and deep, trust-based relationships with customers who are global leaders in their industries. Corning's capabilities are versatile and synergistic, which allows the company to evolve to meet changing market needs, while also helping its customers capture new opportunities in dynamic industries. Today, Corning's markets include optical communications, mobile consumer electronics, display, automotive, solar, semiconductors, and life sciences. Lumentum Media Contacts Press: Victoria McDonald, +1.408.404.0636; [email protected] Investors: Kathy Ta, +1.408.750.3853; [email protected] Corning Media Contacts Press: Brian Dresdow; [email protected] Investors: Christopher Keenan; [email protected] Posted In:
Astera Labs unveils Orion: A compute-agnostic rack-scale architecture. Monday, October 12th 2026 Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for rack-scale AI infrastructure, today announced Orion: a modular rack-scale reference design with production-grade connectivity that allows customers to choose their own GPU and CPU. To be offered through Astera Labs' ODM and OEM partners, the Orion production-grade reference designs are expected to help enable neocloud and enterprise customers to deploy AI infrastructure faster and run it more efficiently, turning racks built on open standards into token-efficient AI factories. For neoclouds and enterprises to economically serve inference at scale, they must secure sufficient accelerator and CPU capacity while delivering predictable, low-latency performance across increasingly complex AI infrastructure. But because they must commit to that capacity long before they know which accelerator will be available or affordable for their workloads, tying early investment to a single platform carries unnecessary cost and risk. At the same time, ODMs and OEMs are forced to repeatedly solve complex integration, validation, and software challenges for every new accelerator platform - slowing deployments when inference capacity is in critical demand. Orion addresses these challenges with a production-grade reference architecture that decouples rack-scale designs from accelerator and CPU selection. Built on open standards to support industry-leading inference accelerators and CPU ecosystems, Orion is designed to enable operators to deploy infrastructure once and scale inference workloads across the most cost-effective and readily available compute resources - via PCIe plug-in cards - without redesigning racks as technology and market dynamics evolve. At the core of Orion is a high-performance, standards-based, scale-up fabric engineered to connect up to 160 accelerators per pod and deliver predictable, low-latency communication and expanded memory capacity across racks and pods. Orion's optimized PCIe connectivity and composable infrastructure are additionally designed to help accelerators extract more tokens-per-second across AI inference workloads. Orion is delivered as a complete modular rack-scale reference design - including system configurations for the compute tray, fabric tray, memory tray, link board, and compute board - all integrated with COSMOS Rack Manager and COSMOS Fabric Manager orchestration software for management, fleet-wide telemetry, diagnostics, and AI infrastructure intelligence. Pravin Patel, vice president and general manager of the AI Platform Solutions Group at Astera Labs"We're entering a new era of AI inference, where operators are judged on the tokens they deliver per dollar, not the hardware inside their racks. Orion gives AI inference cloud providers a production-grade, compute-agnostic architecture so they can quickly bring inference capacity online, provide outcome-based pricing for their customers, and adapt as the industry and compute landscape evolves." Orion rack reference and system designs are on track for availability through Astera Labs' OEM and ODM partners beginning in Q1 2027. Astera Labs will showcase a powered Orion rack - featuring interchangeable, pre-validated compute trays with different CPU and accelerator configurations at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, taking place October 12-15 in San Jose, California.
Jim Cramer praised Astera Labs but advised investors to avoid the stock due to its high valuation. Speaking on Mad Money on 6 October, he called it "a great company, but one expensive stock" trading at 97 times earnings. Astera reported second-quarter revenue of approximately $392.4 million, up 104% year over year. Its Scorpio fabric switches are expected to become its largest product family in the third quarter, ahead of schedule. The stock trades at approximately 66.4 times forward earnings, compared with 49.3 times for Marvell Technology. Four direct customers accounted for 82% of second-quarter revenue combined. Cramer recommended waiting for a better entry point rather than chasing the recent rally.
Astera Labs unveils PCIe 7 connectivity chips for next-generation AI systems. Astera Labs, Inc. today announced the industry's broadest PCIe 7 signal conditioning portfolio spanning smart retimers, redrivers, cable modules, optical drivers, and optical TIAs. The expanded Aries 7 portfolio offers hyperscalers, neoclouds, OEMs and ODMs a comprehensive connectivity platform that now extends reach from centimeters of PCB trace to 50+ meters over optical cables spanning multiple racks. Multi-rack AI clusters are demanding more bandwidth between every accelerator, memory pool, and networking port. Yet doubling PCIe data rates shrinks signal margins, where a single unstable link can idle costly accelerators that reduce token-per-watt performance. And getting these platforms to production has meant stitching together fragmented multi-vendor solutions with different firmware and software, then re-spinning board designs and validation - resulting in delays in deploying AI infrastructure. Aries has long been the gold standard for reliable PCIe links resulting in high accelerators' utilization. The Aries PCIe 7 expansion carries that same philosophy across every channel a modern cluster needs: use copper where it is the most efficient choice and move to optical where reach demands it - all optimized and monitored through Astera Labs' unified COSMOS software suite. Aries 7 Smart Retimers and Smart Redrivers support the OCP Signal Conditioner Standard Footprint, allowing customers to design once and decide later: as design requirements change, customers can pick different signal conditioners without redesigning the board - optimizing for power and accelerating time-to-market. Aries 7 Smart Optical Drivers and Optical TIAs enable that same intelligence in low power, high density NPO and LPO, designed to deliver optimum performance across multi-rack AI fabrics. Platform partners have put Aries link reliability to the test across multiple generations: AMD and Intel have each validated Aries Smart Retimers in production across their platforms from PCIe 4 through 6. Both companies are now collaborating with Astera Labs to lead the industry's transition to PCIe 7. "The real question for architects isn't retimer vs redriver, or copper vs optical: it's whether they have one comprehensive toolbox with the optionality to pick the right tool for their evolving reach, density and power requirements" said Adit Narasimha, senior vice president, Signal Connectivity Group at Astera Labs. "That is what we built with Aries: the same intelligence and the same software, for the solution the link needs." Aries 7 Smart Retimers, Smart Redrivers, Smart Cable Modules, and Smart Optical Driver and TIAs are expected to begin sampling in Q4 2026 to select hyperscale, OEM, and NPO customers, with broader availability anticipated as platforms complete qualification. Astera Labs will showcase PCIe 7 copper and optical demonstrations next week at the 2026 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, Oct. 12-15 in San Jose. Shannon, writes, edits and produces Semiconductor Digest's news articles, email newsletters, blogs, webcasts, and social media posts. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Huntington University in Huntington, IN. In addition to her years of freelance business reporting, Shannon has also worked in marketing and public relations in the renewable energy and healthcare industries.