News & Events

Technology Industry Executive Joe Costello to Join Pivotal Systems Board

Fremont, California – August 28, 2026 

Pivotal Systems Corporation, a leader in gas flow solutions that enables AI chip manufacturing, is excited to announce that Joe Costello has joined the board. Mr. Costello brings more than four decades of leadership in advanced technology, spanning electronic design automation, semiconductors, and photonics.

Joe Costello is serial entrepreneur, inventor, and investor, and currently serves as CEO of Inpho, a company developing photonic chips for the high-speed optical data connections that AI and machine learning workloads depend on.

Mr. Costello is best known for leading Cadence Design Systems as CEO from 1988 to 1997, building it into the largest electronic design automation (EDA) company and among the top ten highest-grossing software companies at the time. Prior to that Mr. Costello rapidly rose to become the President and COO of SDA Systems, that was the early predecessor of what later became Cadence Design Systems.

Mr. Costello has held board positions with several prominent technology companies including at Oracle, Macromedia (acquired by Adobe), and Mercury Interactive (acquired by Hewlett-Packard). He holds a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College and Master’s degrees in Physics from both Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Pivotal is honored to work alongside Mr. Costello with his experience and insights that will help Pivotal advance its mission in driving technological innovation by spearheading the firm’s strategy on a global scale across its organization.

“Joe has built and scaled companies at the center of every major shift in electronics over the past forty years,” said Michael Xiong, Chairman of Pivotal Systems. “As AI demand reshapes what semiconductor manufacturers require from their equipment suppliers, his judgment on strategy, technology, and global growth will be invaluable to our Pivotal team.”

“Semiconductors are powering exponential advances in AI. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment powers the advances in semiconductors in volume, performance and price. What an opportunity to be working with a company using AI to build the best semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the world,” said Joe Costello.

About Pivotal Systems

Pivotal Systems Corporation provides best-in-class gas flow control platforms for the global semiconductor industry. Its innovative products enable precise, repeatable, and real-time gas flow control essential for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Headquartered in Fremont, California, with a growing global footprint, Pivotal Systems serves leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) around the world. Pivotal is committed to innovation, operational excellence, and enabling the future of semiconductor manufacturing.

For more information about Pivotal Systems and its full range of gas flow control devices, visit www.pivotalsys.com.