Kevin Chen, managing director at Lam Capital and corporate development, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Semiconductor-related venture funding was only at about 2 to 3% of total VC funding, even though this is the technology stack on which AI depends, when Kevin Chen became the head of Lam Capital – the corporate VC arm of Lam Research, a US-based supplier of wafer-fabrication equipment and related services to the semiconductor industry. He joined the company in 2020 as partner, was asked to lead the group in 2023 and promptly started to change this in partnership with Audrey Charles, president of Lam Capital and senior vice-president of corporate strategy at Lam.
After getting his PhD in electronic materials from MIT, Chen spun out his research into Cumulus Photonics, an optical networking company. For the next six years, he worked as a product manager, first in the optical networking industry at what is now Lumentum and then in the semiconductor industry at Advanced Micro Devices.
In 2007, Chen joined materials science startup NanoGram where fundraising efforts sparked his interest in becoming an investor. After NanoGram, he spent the next several years gaining management experience in the renewable energy space at Applied Materials and as the CEO of a venture funded materials science startup addressing the agriculture industry
His experience provided “an amazing opportunity to be able to take all the real-world experience that I have gained as an entrepreneur and as an executive across deep tech sectors, to really help the entrepreneurs we work with,” he said for his GCV Emerging Leaders award in 2024.
And this passion comes out most clearly in helping the chip industry harness startup innovations through Lam’s biennial venture competition, which Lightfinder won in 2026 for its silicon photonics-based technology for semiconductor metrology and which Crystal Sonic won in 2024 for its acoustic technology for reducing semiconductor waste.
Thematically, Lam Capital’s portfolio appears increasingly aligned with the structural shifts reshaping the industry: AI-driven compute demand, the rise of chiplets and the complexity of advanced packaging. These trends are pushing innovation beyond traditional lithography into materials science, thermal management and process integration. These are areas where Lam has technical credibility and where Lam Capital can source differentiated deals through its 10-strong team.
Over the past years its deals have included Multibeam’s $31m series B round for its lithography production solutions, Lidrotec’s $13.5m series A for laser-based chip dicing and Fabric8Labs’ $50m series C for electrochemical metal manufacturing.
With an experienced team and strategy, the unit under Chen and Charles appears more embedded, more selective and more aligned with Lam’s long-term competitive positioning. In a sector where technical depth is a prerequisite, Lam Capital’s willingness to stay focused rather than chase hype reinforces its role as a specialist CVC.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
