Tech Disruptors

Greg Matson, Senior Vice President at Solidigm, brings 25 years of expertise in memory and storage to the conversation. He discusses how Solidigm is addressing the skyrocketing data demands of AI, with insights on the pivotal shift towards high-capacity SSDs. Greg explains the significant difference between SSD needs for inference and training, while predicting a future with one-petabyte drives. He emphasizes the importance of liquid-cooled SSDs and customer collaboration in staying competitive as demand for flash storage surges.

Rodrigo Liang, Co-founder and CEO of SambaNova Systems, shares insights from his extensive background in semiconductor engineering. He discusses how SambaNova is pioneering air-cooled, energy-efficient AI infrastructure, enabling businesses to scale AI rapidly and sustainably. Liang explains the shift from AI training to inference, emphasizing energy efficiency as a key factor for future AI solutions. He also touches on the increasing demand for sovereign AI deployments and the barriers created by habit and legacy software in the industry.

Saswat Panigrahi, Chief Product Officer at Waymo and autonomous driving expert, joins Mandeep Singh for an engaging dive into the future of self-driving cars. They discuss how Waymo is over 10x safer than human drivers and plans for a significant expansion in 2025 across five cities. Saswat shares insights on leveraging AI for fleet management, the importance of city-specific infrastructure, and the challenges of scaling operations. He invites listeners to reconsider misconceptions about AVs and experience the benefits firsthand.

Swami Sivasubramanian, VP of Agentec AI at AWS with over 20 years of experience, joins Anurag Rana to delve into the future of enterprise AI agents. They discuss the shift from simple chatbots to agents capable of autonomous planning and task completion. Swami highlights the importance of security, data access, and governance in deploying these agents. He also explores challenges in moving from prototype to production, the significance of context and memory for personalization, and how agents can modernize legacy systems, paving the way for greater efficiency.

Phil Pokorny, CTO of Penguin Solutions and expert in high-performance computing, shares insights on evolving AI infrastructure. He discusses how bespoke engineering is key to tackling AI complexity for enterprises and governments. The conversation highlights Penguin's partnerships with Dell, the critical role of memory technologies like CXL, and the importance of customized solutions versus cookie-cutter approaches. Phil also predicts a future with optical interconnects and energy-efficient systems, showcasing Penguin's commitment to innovative AI solutions.

Haseeb Budhani, Co-founder and CEO of Rafay Systems, specializes in orchestrating AI infrastructure to enhance developer experiences. He discusses the importance of simplifying AI deployment for enterprises, emphasizing Rafay's innovative consumption-based model. Haseeb highlights the integration of serverless pods and agent frameworks to streamline app delivery. He also shares insights on how Rafay collaborates with major players like NVIDIA and Accenture, and addresses common misconceptions about Kubernetes, making it easier for developers to thrive in a complex landscape.

David Dorff, Global Head of Retail Industry Solutions at AWS, dives into the world of agentic AI and its transformative potential for shopping. He discusses how intelligent agents can autonomously assist in making decisions, automating tasks, and enhancing supply chains. The conversation also covers the impact of answer engines on consumer behavior, shifts in advertising strategies, and the future of retail. Dorff predicts younger shoppers will embrace these innovations quickly, urging retailers not to lag in adopting AI for improved efficiency and customer engagement.

Allan Thygesen, CEO of DocuSign since 2022 and former Google executive, shares insights on AI and Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM). He reveals that DocuSign has processed over 100 million contracts using AI. Thygesen highlights the company’s international expansion, particularly in Germany and Japan, and the growth potential in the federal market. The discussion touches on the shift toward value-based pricing in software and the role of AI in enhancing internal workflows, saving time, and improving productivity.

Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of AWS Infrastructure Services, dives into the evolving world of AI workloads. He discusses the vanishing line between AI and traditional workloads, emphasizing the need for fungible clusters that optimize GPU and power use. Prasad reveals AWS's innovative approach to data centers, focusing on retrofitting existing infrastructure for AI rather than building from scratch. He also addresses challenges like supply-chain constraints and the importance of liquid cooling for high-power chips, shedding light on the future of cloud computing.

Praveer Melwani, the CFO of Figma, shares insights on how the platform fosters collaborative design and evolves from freemium to enterprise. He discusses Figma’s unique web-native multiplayer capabilities and its competitive edge against Adobe. Praveer delves into their subscription model, pricing changes, and how AI integrations are transforming design workflows. Highlighting impressive retention metrics and user growth, he emphasizes that AI will enhance rather than replace the craft of design, making Figma an essential tool for modern teams.