Planned leadership transition comes as Dr. Gavin Ferris steps down having served five years pro bono as CEO, remains on the Board of Directors
CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, May 20, 2025, the open silicon ecosystem organisation, today announced the appointment of Javier Orensanz Martinez as CEO, effective 2 June 2025. Joining the organisation with more than two decades of experience in the semiconductor space, Javier will lead lowRISC on its mission to help create commercially relevant, open-source silicon designs that are widely adopted throughout industry. To ensure a smooth handover Gavin and Javier will be co-CEOs for the month of June, with Gavin stepping away officially at the end of the month.
"Serving as the CEO of lowRISC for five years has been a tremendous privilege and a role I have greatly valued. I'm very proud of what we have achieved alongside our partners during this time - not least in having helped bring the first commercial open-source silicon to reality, with production OpenTitan chips going into Chromebook sockets this summer, Google datacentre applications to follow, and Rivos (and others) integrating the IP directly into their SoCs," said Dr. Gavin Ferris, lowRISC Board Member and outgoing CEO. "I'm confident that in handing the reins over to Javier, his drive and experience will help propel lowRISC to the next level, build on the achievements we've accomplished with our valued partners already, and further the positive impacts of open-source silicon."
Javier joins lowRISC after a successful 22-year career at Arm, with 9 years of experience in VP roles: General Manager of the Development Solutions Group, VP of Developer Ecosystems and VP of Quality. He is passionate about the commercial value of open source, having witnessed first-hand how it revolutionised Arm's approach to software. Javier brings a mix of savvy business background and technical knowledge, having managed a broad portfolio of software and hardware products, led acquisitions, and delivered growth through long-term partnerships and business model transformation.
"I am so impressed with everything that Gavin and the lowRISC team have accomplished in the last 10 years in collaboration with its amazing partners and contributors," said Javier Orensanz Martinez. "I am thrilled to join the organisation at such a pivotal time, with the first OpenTitan root-of-trust silicon having hit production, and look forward to building on its solid foundations to boost the adoption of open-source hardware."
"The Board and I would like to thank Gavin for his excellent leadership these last five years and recognise the tremendous accomplishments he and the team have made in open-source silicon," said Sir Andy Hopper, lowRISC's independent chair. "And we are thrilled to welcome Javier as the new CEO - his deep experience in the open-source and semiconductor space and proven track record of success in this industry aligns perfectly with lowRISC's mission. This is a fantastic time for him to take lowRISC to the next stage of its journey and seize the opportunities available."
lowRISC's purpose from the outset has been, and will continue to be, to help create and support commercially relevant open-source silicon designs that are widely adopted throughout industry. With Javier at the helm, the team will continue to drive long-term impact by fostering an open-source silicon ecosystem that benefits academia, industry, and broader society in general.
About lowRISC®
Founded in 2014 at the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, lowRISC is a not-for-profit company/CIC that provides a neutral home for collaborative engineering to develop and maintain open source silicon designs and tools for the long term. The lowRISC not-for-profit structure combined with full-stack engineering capabilities in-house enables the hosting and management of high-quality projects like OpenTitan® and Sunburst via the Silicon Commons® approach.
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