A. Thampy Thomas (born ) is an electrical engineer who contributed to
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...
pipeline architecture and founded semiconductor company NexGen microsystems.
Elxsi
In 1979, Thomas co-founded Elxsi, a semiconductor company in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
. Thomas holds Ph.D. and M.S. in
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and B.E. in Electrical Engineering from
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
The Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a private deemed university in Pilani, Rajasthan, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. BITS Pilani was one of the first s ...
, Pilani.
Thomas was the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Elxsi from 1979 to 1985. Elxsi was the first computer company to use more than one processor. Elxsi investors included the Tata Group and Arthur Rock.
NexGen
After Elxsi, Thomas founded NexGen Microsystems. Nexgen implemented the
x86
x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...
architecture in its processors. Their processors translated code designed to run on the traditionally CISC-based x86 architecture to run on the chip's internal RISC architecture. After the announcement of a competitor to Intel's
i386
The Intel 386, originally released as the 80386 and later renamed i386, is the third-generation x86 architecture microprocessor from Intel. It was the first 32-bit processor in the line, making it a significant evolution in the x86 archite ...
line of CPUs, journalist John C. Dvorak described Thomas as "a big-time defender of CISC architecture". Much of the underlying theory was developed during Thomas' doctorate work, under the supervision of his advisor, Ed Davidson.
Thomas was president, CEO, and chairman at Nexgen. He was succeeded as CEO by Atiq Raza in 1991 but remained chairman. Nexgen went public in 1995, and AMD acquired Nexgen later that year.
Other service
Thomas has served as the chairman and CEO of PostX (now owned by
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...
), Director at Micro Linear Corporation (acquired by Sirenza), Director of Liquid Robotics, board member at Jupiter Research Foundation, and Director at Vintners' Alliance.