Upscale AI hired Praveen Kukkamalla as VP for business development & strategic alliances.
Kukkamalla joins the AI-centric networking firm from another VP role at Lightmatter, where he looked after worldwide sales across AI infrastructure.
In a LinkedIn post, Upscale's new hire revealed he would be building the ecosystem around the firm's AI networking platform by developing partnerships with hyperscalers, neoclouds, silicon vendors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs) on top of sovereign AI initiatives.
"Rack-scale AI systems are growing more complex by the generation, and networking is quickly becoming the limiting factor. If you're building in this space, I'd love to reconnect," Kukkamalla added.
The VP served at Lightmatter for almost a year and a half, overseeing strategic partnerships across the semiconductor value chain, including foundry, ASIC design, advanced packaging, memory, networking, optical interconnect, and supply-chain partners.
He joined Lightmatter after a three-year director stint at Samsung Semiconductor. That followed the biggest patch on his CV at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), where he spent eleven years in sales and business management.
Kukkamalla's TSMC period followed a board position at TiE Boston and Social Capital between 2011 and 2019.
Prior to 2011, he worked on EDA applications for both Analog Devices (2006-11) and IBM (2005-6). He began his career in 2004 in a sales position at Mentor Graphics.
Kukkamalla joins Upscale AI as it enjoys a flush $190 million transfusion from backers including Nvidia. The firm's flagship offering centers around its AI-centric SkyHammer switches, which leverage open-source networking standards including UALink, Ultra Ethernet (UEC), and Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC).
An architect behind those switches, Rohit Mittal, recently crossed over from Upscale to Nvidia in February to join the silicon giant's NVLink Fusion team.