Synaptics at the Edge: A Conversation with CEO Rahul Patel

November 17, 2025

Blog

I recently spent some time with Synaptics’ new CEO, Rahul Patel. It was at the company’s Tech Day event held in its San Jose headquarters. Rahul arrived at Synaptics after spending more than a decade at both Qualcomm and Broadcom, so he is no stranger to the semiconductor space. And that’s a good thing, because he joined at a time when the company was already in the midst of a transformation, attempting to become a major player in the Edge AI semiconductor space.

In our sit-down, Patel described Synaptics today as an “emerging Edge AI solutions company,” one that’s building complete solutions around its core strengths: sensing, processing, and connectivity. At the same time, the company is focusing heavily on R&D and innovation.

“Historically, Synaptics was more about sustaining its core products,” Patel admits. “Now we’re investing heavily in building best-in-class technology, but in a disciplined way. You can’t spend what you don’t have. Our focus is on developing Edge AI capabilities through processing and connectivity, and bringing together our unique mixed-signal expertise to create intuitive, human-aware systems.”

That mixed-signal legacy, which is ingrained in the company’s history in touch technology, is and will be a differentiator according to Patel, who recognizes this as foundational to next-generation interfaces that can understand and respond to people naturally. “If we agree that future devices need to be human and contextually aware, then you need the best-in-class audio, vision, and touch interfaces,” he says. “That’s what separates Synaptics from the competition.”

From Silicon to Solutions

Patel plans to apply lessons learned at his previous stops to Synaptics. “In semiconductors today, silicon is only half the answer,” he explains. “The other half is software and the integration of that silicon into a full solution. Our goal is to make it easier for our customers to build end products with less engineering expense. That means providing optimized reference designs, open-source tools, and developer support.”

Synaptics’ developer portal already hosts a library of open-source models that have been optimized and quantized for use on its platforms. The company’s Edge AI demonstrations show how this approach comes together, for example, as an appliance platform powered by Synaptics’ Astra processor that integrates wireless connectivity and touch, and supports natural voice interaction in multiple languages.

Collaboration and Open Source

One of the strongest validation points for this strategy has been Synaptics’ close collaboration with Google. The two companies are co-developing elements of the NPU accelerator within Synaptics’ RISC-V-based AI platform. Patel says he was “pleasantly surprised” by how deeply the partnership is integrated. “It’s rare to see this level of collaboration between a large company and a smaller one,” he says. “Google’s engineers respect what our team brings to the table. We’re nimble, agile, and highly capable, and that makes the relationship very productive.”

To that end, as reported here, the company recently introduced a partnership with Google, whereby it will incorporate Google’s Coral machine-learning accelerator with its own CPU core.

Synaptics’ commitment to open-source development is central to its strategy. Patel believes that openness doesn’t limit differentiation; rather, it amplifies innovation. “Our customers can bring their own proprietary models, and we’ll support them,” he says. “But open source allows us all to move faster. It reduces R&D costs, broadens access to machine learning, and creates a foundation for community-driven improvement. At the same time, we’ll continue to develop unique, proprietary models that showcase our differentiation.”

Growth, Focus, and the Future of Edge AI

Over the next three years, Synaptics aims to grow its core IoT business by 25% to 30% annually. That roadmap includes continued investment in connectivity, starting with Wi-Fi 7 today, with Wi-Fi 8 and 9 already in development. And it obviously includes next-generation AI processors. “Connectivity and AI go hand in hand,” Patel says. “You can’t have intelligent Edge devices without reliable, high-speed links.”

Internally, Synaptics is exploring AI tools to improve productivity and streamline infrastructure management. While general-purpose AI tools don’t yet translate directly to silicon design, Patel sees opportunities in areas like IT, data management, and workflow optimization.

Asked what’s surprised him most since joining the company, Patel doesn’t hesitate: “The quality of our engineering talent. The teams here are deeply skilled. And now, with sharper focus and alignment, I think we’ll see them deliver extraordinary results.”

Looking ahead, Patel envisions a world where IoT and Edge AI become inseparable, resulting in systems that are human-aware, intuitive, privacy-respecting, and capable of real-time decision-making. “Not everything needs to happen in the cloud,” he says. “Edge AI allows us to process locally for better performance, lower power, and more privacy. That’s where Synaptics is heading, building solutions that bring intelligence closer to where we live and work.”