How are corporate venture capital teams investing in the age of AI? In this Silicon Valley Unplugged session, leaders from Applied Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, and Lam Capital share how strategic investors evaluate emerging technologies, support deep-tech startups, and identify the next wave of innovation shaping the future of AI and advanced computing.

In this talk, Laura Swan, General Partner at Silicon Catalyst Ventures, shares a clear and practical view of what it takes to scale semiconductor startups from early concepts to real-world impact. Drawing on decades of engineering and venture experience, she explains why hardware and semiconductors scale differently from software, how founders should think about timing, capital, and ecosystem support, and why Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain is critical in helping startups

In this talk, Janis Skriveris, Principal and Deeptech Lead at Plug and Play Ventures, breaks down what it really takes to scale semiconductor and deep-tech startups from early innovation to global impact. Drawing on years of experience running accelerator programs and investing in frontier technologies, he explains how ecosystems, corporate partnerships, and cross-border collaboration—especially between Silicon Valley and Taiwan—enable startups to move beyond prototypes into

In this talk, Andy Lombard, Founder and Managing Partner of Tesoro Venture Capital, shares a candid look at what it truly takes to scale AI and semiconductor startups. Drawing on decades of experience as a serial founder, investor, and former Motorola executive, he explains why deep-tech companies face fundamentally different challenges than software startups—and how global supply chains, capital strategy, and cross-border partnerships, especially between Silicon Valley and T

As artificial intelligence saturates the headlines and dominates investment portfolios, the most forward-looking voices in tech and venture are already asking a deeper question: what comes after AI? This panel, filmed at Willow Workplace in Menlo Park as part of Taiwan Demo Day 2025, convenes three of the sharpest minds at the intersection of research, startup acceleration, and deep-tech foresight to unpack that very question.

In this episode of Silicon Valley Unplugged: Investing in Hard Tech, Nicolas Sauvage, President of TDK Ventures, joins host Jillian Sun for a candid conversation on what it really takes to build and fund deep-tech companies. From evaluating founders to scaling hardware, energy, AI, and climate technologies, this episode unpacks how breakthrough ideas move from the lab to real-world impact—and what separates promising demos from enduring companies.