SAN DIEGO, CA— Dr. M.C. Frank Chang, co-founder of Kneron and distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at UCLA, has been honored with the 2025 John Fritz Medal, one of the most prestigious lifetime achievements in engineering. The award was presented on Tuesday at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco.
The John Fritz Medal recognizes a single individual whose scientific or industrial innovations have significantly advanced society. This distinction places Dr. Chang among a historic lineage of visionaries, including Thomas Edison, Lord Kelvin, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville Wright, Elon Musk, and semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.
Dr. Chang is internationally recognized for breakthroughs in high-frequency semiconductor devices, RF technologies, and advanced circuit design—innovations that helped shape today’s high-performance, energy-efficient AI systems. His research accelerated the evolution from traditional architectures to modern inference-optimized computing, which now powers everything from mobile communications to autonomous machines.
These foundational contributions increasingly drive the global shift from GPU-centric scaling toward NPU-driven, low-power, on-device intelligence.
As Kneron’s co-founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Chang continues to guide the company’s long-term research strategy, including next-generation NPUs, edge-centric AI architectures, secure inference, and system-level chip-to-cloud design. His lifetime of semiconductor innovation aligns with Kneron’s belief that the future of AI will be intelligent at the edge, personalized, energy-efficient, and secure by design.
Dr. Chang’s award reinforces what industry leaders increasingly acknowledge: the architectures he pioneered decades ago are the same principles now defining the global transition toward NPU leadership. Kneron stands at this inflection point with the rare advantage of being built upon the innovations of one of the field’s most influential minds.
“Dr. Chang’s work has shaped nearly every layer of modern semiconductor engineering,” said Albert Liu, founder and CEO of Kneron. “His innovations power the industry’s shift from energy-intensive compute to efficient, secure, inference-optimized systems. We are privileged to have his vision guiding Kneron as we lead the next wave of edge AI evolution.”
Kneron is a global semiconductor company pioneering energy-efficient neural processing units and full-stack edge AI systems designed for real-time intelligence, privacy, and security across automotive, consumer electronics, industrial automation, infrastructure, and healthcare.
For more information, visit www.kneron.com.
Media Contact:
- Tiffany Chang
- Kneron, NPU
- tiffany.chang@kneron.us
