Aion Silicon (formerly Sondrel), an ASIC/SoC architecture and design partner, announced the appointment of Allen Sansano as Vice President of Engineering. Sansano brings over 35 years of ASIC engineering leadership experience and will oversee engineering execution across Aion Silicon’s global development organization. His expertise covers semiconductor architecture, execution, and global leadership, supporting the company’s work in complex AI, automotive, HPC, 5G, and networking designs.
Sansano most recently served at Meta, where he led advanced ASIC development for Computer Vision and Image Signal Processing in next-generation Augmented Reality devices and pioneered AI-assisted semiconductor design methodologies. Before Meta, he was Vice President of Engineering at Wave Computing, heading the MIPS Division across architecture, design, verification, physical design, DFT, systems, and software.
His career includes roles at high-growth startups in audio, video, graphics, AI, CPU, and networking. Sansano also served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Tallwood Venture Capital, where he authored the investment thesis for Audience and later joined the company, contributing to its successful IPO. He has worked with global engineering teams in India, Singapore, Shanghai, Manila, Colombo, and Tel Aviv.
Oliver Jones, CEO of Aion Silicon, stated that Sansano combines deep technical expertise, global team-building experience, and a record of large-scale delivery. Jones noted the need to elevate engineering, execution, and leadership standards, and expressed confidence in Sansano’s contribution to Aion Silicon’s next phase.
Sansano commented that he has focused on building teams capable of delivering complex silicon at scale. He expressed interest in Aion Silicon’s challenges in AI and compute architecture and his intent to guide global teams in advancing advanced silicon capabilities.
Outside his professional role, Sansano is the founder, president, and competitor of the USA National Kayak Fishing Team, participating in international competitions and earning world-stage medals.
